The Pain of Life
by Lenle.G
Summary: Sasuke's back, and  he'd bullied Naruto for years. But as he learns more and more about him, Sasuke realizes Naruto is more of a friend than he ever imagined. So what will he do when he discovers Naruto's being abused? H/C fic.
1. Prologue

The Pain of Life

Prologue

"Naruto!"

The first gunshot had ripped its way through his friend's shoulder. The second into his thigh and the third into his stomach. His screams echoed around the small alleyway as he staggered backwards, fighting to stay upright.

"Naruto! Oh my god! Naruto! Wake up. Please wake up!"

The forth and last shot had been at point blank range. Into his chest. I watched as if in slow motion as the small body of my blond best friend had crumpled to the ground.

"Naruto!"

I'd watched as the blood pooled around the limp form. The man stood over the fallen figure of my friend... and laughed.

Laughed.

Siren's now. The police had got my call. I tugged viciously against the ropes that held my arms up in place. They cut into my wrists, leaving them raw and red. The man turned to face me, a smile on his face. He walked towards me, got close enough so that I could smell the alcohol on his breath. He pointed the gun, eyes manically wide, laughing.

Blue flashy lights. The slamming of doors. The man's finger squeezed the trigger. I squeezed my eyes tightly closed, waiting for the impact. It never came. With a loud bang, the bullet had glanced harmlessly off the brick wall behind me. Footsteps. Running. The man re-loaded his gun with a shrug and a manic grin, poising it ready to fire.

**A/N: Thanks for reading peeps! :D (This is not a Deathfic by the way... at least... I don't think it will be, but it will have Hurt/Comfort, and yes, as you've probably worked out, it's a this world fic) If you liked it, please drop me a review! :D xxx**


	2. Chapter 1

One

"Right class" Kakashi-sensei grinned at them from the front of the classroom, at least, Naruto thought he must be grinning, as his eye had curved upwards into a happy U shape. It was hard to tell really, as his perverted English teacher wore a weird mask that covered half his face and a black and silver bandana across one eye. The bell had rung almost twenty minutes ago, and as usual, his sensei had only just walked in. What interested Naruto most was the small figure of a boy who looked horribly familiar standing at the front of the class with him. The boy had shining dark hair that stuck up comically at the back, his skin was as pale as porcelain and his dark eyes flickered coldly. He stood; arms crossed frowning slightly as he surveyed the thirty odd students who sprawled casually across their desks. His eyes connected momentarily with Naruto's and he could swear the pale teen's lips curved upward slightly in a smirk. _Oh no, not him, anyone but him._

Naruto found himself frowning, and he looked away, now staring at the person who sat one empty desk away from him. His friend Sakura has bubble-gum pink hair and startling green eyes. Naruto used to have a crush on her when he was younger, but now, at the age of fifteen, they were just close friends. She was whispering animatedly with the girl next her - Ino, her best friend since forever. The two girls suddenly burst out in fits of giggling and looked towards the dark-haired figure at the front of the class, Naruto swore he could see little hearts lighting up in their eyes.

"This is Uchiha Sasuke" Kakashi explained to them casually peering from over the little orange book he was reading. The whole class has suddenly broken out in whispers. Everyone knew of the Uchiha family. They were rich, incredibly so. Uchiha Fugaku practically owned half the world's police force and banks. Kakashi called for quiet, and, surprisingly, the students obeyed. Naruto found himself groaning. He'd gone to the same primary school as Sasuke and the stuck-up stoic bastard had been his friend at first, sort of friendly-rivals. They'd got into so many fights and it had been a lot of fun. They'd ended up as best friends. But then that incident happened in the final term of primary school and...

Naruto rubbed tiredly at his eyes, not wanting to remember. Now, two weeks into the high school's first term of year 10, the bastard had just transferred to Konoha High School. He couldn't just be rid of him now could he?

"Right then, Sasuke, You can sit..." Kakashi's one eye scanned the classroom for an empty seat "Over there, between Naruto and Sakura. You two raise your hands." Naruto resisted the sudden strong urge to bang his head on the table, but he found himself groaning again. He didn't bother sticking his hand in the air and waving it around like crazy, as Sakura was currently doing, as the smirking bastard was already on his way over. Sasuke slipped into the seat between them.

Naruto turned away from him and sighed, closing his eyes and letting Kakashi's words roll straight over his head as his perverted sensei began to teach the lesson. Sakura began talking enthusiastically to Sasuke who seemed to be ignoring her. Sakura had also gone to the same primary school as Sasuke, and apparently hadn't got over her crush on him. Naruto let himself slump down onto his desk, rubbing tiredly at his eyes. He hadn't got much sleep again with all the yelling and everything last night. He rubbed at his side. It still hurt.

He was woken by a sharp jab in his ribs. And a: "Oi, dobe" He gasped, sitting bolt upright. The chair he was sat on toppled over backwards with the momentum and Naruto found himself sprawled out on the floor of the now practically empty classroom.

"Ow! What the hell was that for teme!"

"Lessons over idiot. I could have just left you there." Naruto scowled as the bastard who stood over him smirked and turned to leave. _So it was going to go back to this then was it?_

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura was leaning round the door frame and waving to him "We've got biology together next! It's with Orochimaru-Sensei though..." She pouted slightly "He's a bit creepy really. Do you want me to show you where it is?" she suddenly caught sight of Naruto picking himself up off the floor and frowned slightly "Naruto? What were you doing on the floor idiot? Not causing trouble for my Sasuke-kun I hope" She looked mildly embarrassed of him, and Naruto found himself rolling his eyes.

"No Sakura-chan. He's just the world's biggest teme" he pointed an accusing finger at Sasuke and winced as a sudden pain shot up his spine. "Ow..."

Sasuke snorted and strode towards the door.

Naruto rolled his eyes again as Sasuke left with Sakura, and rubbed at his back. Just another stupid day in his life.

**A/N: Hiya my readers (wow... I have readers? *drools at coolness*) Hope you like this :3 Drop me a review if you do... should I keep writing it? I've got lots of ideas... most of them doomy... really doomy... Plus! I need a name for a evil guy... any ideas? :S **


	3. Chapter 2

Two

Orochimaru.

Urgh.

Orochimaru had been Sasuke's old tutor, and the reason he had never attended the local high school before. His father had insisted that the man be his private tutor, mainly because the man was a science and maths specialist at the local high school. Sasuke's older brother Itachi was a CSI agent and police commissioner, Sasuke was expected to become the same by studying hard in those two subjects. Needles to say, Sasuke had never wanted to spend another second with that man ever again, and he had practically all but begged his father to let him go to a normal high school to escape the snake, but Fugaku had insisted that if he wanted to go to a school, he had to go to the one Orochimaru worked in. Orochimaru had been working at Konoha High for a number of years while tutoring Sasuke and the worst thing about the man was, in fact, that he was most definitely a pervert. Sasuke had had to put up with him leering over him; his hand on his shoulder, his breath is his ear, for a whole hour today. And needless to say he never, ever, wanted to again.

Sakura. Now that was another thing. He could tell she had barely changed at all. She had been a crazy fangirl at primary school, and she still fawned incessantly over him now. It annoyed him. It wasn't that he hated the girl; he was just... not very fond of her.

And then there was Naruto.

Naruto. Naruto. Naruto.

He was an enigma. They'd had a sort of friendly rivalry going at primary school, but then suddenly, towards the end of school, Naruto had suddenly stopped speaking to him. Stopped even looking at him. Tried to avoid him all together. Sasuke knew something must have happened to his old friend. He had never risen to his goading, never fought back. It had gone for friendly rivalry to downright bullying. Sasuke had ended up just picking on the boy just to get his attention. And he knew it.

He hated it.

He'd arrived and immediately switched to bastard mode, from the moment he walked in and those startlingly blue eyes had fixed on him. He'd been ignored by Naruto for the whole lesson and then Sasuke had practically pushed him off his chair. He felt a wave of guilt wash over him at remembering the flash of pain that had crossed the blond eyes. He remembered how his heart skipped a beat when Naruto spoke to him. Used his old nickname for him. There was a sparkling bit of the old Naruto he knew there. But he'd been too angry and unforgiving of him being ignored all those years ago that he'd just abandoned him there to go with Sakura. Then, in Biology, which they also had together, Orochimaru had paid a horrible amount of attention to the blond. Sasuke hadn't missed the way the smaller, tan boy had stiffened when the snake's hand had found its way to rest on the blond's thigh. The raven suppressed a shudder.

He was now looking for his locker. He passed down the hall of alphabetically lined blue lockers and came to number 245. His locker. Next to it stood certain blond-haired boy, who as he caught sight of Sasuke slammed his own locker shut and tried his best to glare at him. He looked at the blond's locker, where the number 246 was written in big black letters, with the name 'Uzumaki' looped under it. He switched his gaze back to his own locker to see 'Uchiha' under his own number. Sasuke supposed that figured, there couldn't be too many people with surnames beginning with 'U', their lockers would have had to have been close. He looked back up just as the blond was turning to go. Instinctively Sasuke found his own fingers latched around the blond's wrist to pull him back. A look of pure terror flashed across the blonds suddenly pale face.

"Dobe?" Sasuke frowned. He suddenly noticed how tired Naruto looked, how small and fragile, how...

"Get off me teme" Naruto's voice was barely above a whisper, cracked with fear. His angelic eyes wide and scared. There was a sparkle of the old Naruto there along with a mix of someone Sasuke didn't know. Someone deathly afraid of something. The Naruto Sasuke new wasn't afraid of anything. Sasuke's dropped his wrist quickly and Naruto took the chance to bolt, sprinting down the corridor like he was on fire.

Which brought Sasuke to one thing:

What the hell was wrong with the dobe? 

**A/N: Well... like? No like? Drop me a review please, it would be much apprecitated! :D xxx**


	4. Chapter 3

Three

A school trip to France, all expenses paid, for a whole week, the letter in his hand advertised. Naruto swallowed hard. Anything to get away from him, but he needed his signature to do it.

The blond summoned up the little courage he had left and approached to where his foster father lounged on the sofa in front of the TV. Koukai Asura was a big man, and Naruto knew exactly how easily one blow to the head from one of those fists could knock you out.

"Oi. Brat. Get me a lasagne" Kai's loud tones erupted over the blaring of the TV set. Naruto hurried off to do exactly as bidden. He stuck the TV dinner package into the microwave and set it for two minutes.

"'Urry up!"

That's when the foot cracked against ribs, the hard leather boot making a satisfying crunch as it connected with his side. Naruto let his body go floppy, crashing to the floor away from the man who kicked him. His foster-Father flung open the fridge door, grabbed a beer and stormed back into the other room. Naruto lay, pained, on the floor, until the soft 'ping' of the microwave told him the dinner was done.

Dragging himself up, Naruto pressed two fingers to the rapidly forming boot-shaped bruise on his side and winced, hoping the fragile bones beneath weren't broken. He sucked in a pained breath and forced his aching body into a standing position, pulling a tray out from the cupboard next to the sink and loading it with the meal and cutlery. He placed the form under the plate, folded so only the 'sign here' line showed and laid a pen next to it. He tested a few steps away from the counter and satisfied, picked up the tray, his body swaying slightly under its strain.

Naruto walked the short distance to the sofa where Kai lounged, and set the tray on his foster father's lap. He the skittered away to the back of the room, debating whether to run upstairs and hide, and face a possible beating later for not being there, or to stay and face a possible beating anyway. He watched as the man he was supposed to call his father shovelled plastic-looking lasagne into his mouth with a horrible squelchy noise that echoed above the blaring of the TV set. Kai took another slurp of beer and went to stick the fork into the mush once more. He stopped suddenly. He'd noticed the form.

"Was this?" His voice was slurred, calling to Naruto from over the back of the squashy sofa.

"It's a form for you to sign..." Naruto began from a safe distance away.

"I aint pay'in no money, you little fucker, forgit it."

"No... you won't have to pay... it's free... it's to get rid of me for a week."

"Nuffin' in life is free" He laughed drunkenly, scribbling his signature on the pristine white sheet, before suddenly reeling up onto his feet. The tray on his lap crashed to the ground, spilling its contents all over the floor. The golden amber colour of the beer mixed and curdled into the red and orange splurge of lasagne. "Now look what y've fuckin' done you little..." he reeled drunkenly towards the small shaking form of the boy before him. The first punch struck his supposed-son in the side of the head, sending him crashing to the floor. On the way down, Naruto's head cracked on the side of a little table his foster mother had once bought, before...

Blood, vividly crimson against his startling blond hair, seeped through his blond locks and down his temporarily-dazed face. His blue eyes wide and unfocused. He was kicked again as the man above him swore, the blow catching his already painful ribs. The blond hissed with pain, trying desperately to curl in on himself. His lungs wouldn't work properly, he was gasping for air, couldn't breathe. A hand fastened its way around his neck, forcing him up the wall behind him. His feet were off the floor. No air. No air. Can't breathe. The blond's mouth opened and closed airlessly and his eyesight grew dark in the corners. The darkness was spreading. The crushing pain worsening.

"Stop..." Naruto forced out, before the darkness closed in. And he knew nothing more.

**A/N: So yeah... that was that... wow, Kai is pretty evil. It was my friend James who came up with the name... I think he just picked a random one off a Google search *facepalms*, but hey, it works... more or less). Did you like it? I hope you did... go give this little author-wanna-be some motivation and drop me a review to tell me what you think pleasies? :3**


	5. Chapter 4

Four

When Naruto was dragged back into consciousness, he was cold. His head pounded with sharp, stabbing pains that re-assured him he was still alive, and his ribs throbbed angrily. It felt like there was an iron band wrapped forcefully around his chest and throat, constricting horribly and burning red hot as he greedily sucked in great lungfuls of air in short, breathless gasps. His cheek rested on the comforting warmth of a carpet, and through Naruto's closed eyes he concluded he was either in the hall or still in the living room – the only two carpeted rooms in the house. He opened one eye cautiously, having to wrench it apart, having been sealed shut with a once sticky red substance, which had long since dried so that it cracked and crazed as he tried to see. The bright whiteness of the light forced him to immediately close his eye again, before slowly peeling them both back and blinking lots, to get accustomed to the light that was making his headache so much worse.

He was in the living room still. Pressed against the carpet near the back wall. His foster father, Kai, was nowhere in sight. The sun was filtering through the curtains in shafts of bright, cutting light. Naruto rubbed at his eyes as he dragged himself into a sitting position.

He sucked in a pained breath as his eyes scanned the room, landing on a small sheet of white paper, which had been folded over to show only a thin, black line.

Resting on that line was a signature.

Relief flooded through is veins. It was worth it. He'd got the signature. He could go.

Thank God.

**A/N: Short little chappie this time, will have to write more to make up for it next time :3**


	6. Chapter 5

Five

Bandages.

Naruto turned up after skipping two whole days of school, covered in bandages.

Sasuke watched as the blond boy handed in a letter reception, and tried to explain his absence to Kurenai, the school's kind young secretary. He was rubbing the back of his bandaged head with one hand and smiling disconcertingly at her as he told her he'd fallen down the stairs.

He's still a klutz then, Sasuke smiled, something's never change.

It was a bit weird really; Naruto had turned up wearing the most horrendous orange turtle-neck sweater over his school uniform. He was now point blank refusing to take it off, even though Orochimaru-sensei was now practically screaming at him that it was 'against school policy'. Then he was running. Running, running, running. Orochimaru was yelling after him, causing every head in the reception to turn and stare at the poor young blond.

Then Sasuke noticed something, something that made his blood run cold. Something that made him turn, turn and run, full pelt after the blond. Because Naruto was doing something that Sasuke had never seen him do before in his life. Something that no-one had ever seen the strong happy-go-lucky boy do.

Naruto was crying.

**A/N: Ok, so another really short chapter... ah well... tell me if ye likes it or not *randomly turns into a pirate* yarrr! :3**


	7. Chapter 6

Six

"Naruto!"

Someone was running after him. Trying to catch him. Kurenai? Orochimaru? His foster father? Memories of being chased by that man flooded his mind. Blinding him. He couldn't run. It was futile. There was no-where to run. One foot after the other. But he couldn't escape. Never escape. There was no escape. There was no-where to run to. He was trapped, trapped... running. Must run. Have to run. Get away. He's coming, he's coming... Naruto's breath came in short pants, he was hyperventilating, he couldn't breathe. Couldn't breathe. No. No. No. A rough hand caught him by the arm, fingers tightening on covered skin. No. No. No. No. Naruto's eyes widened with fear, he could feel the tears on his face. No. This was it, he was going to get smacked around again... the hand was pulling on his arm, dragging him around to face...

Sasuke.

"Naruto? What the hell?" Sasuke's face was creased with concern as the boy before him struggled for breath. Naruto's crystalline blue eyes were wide and scared like a frightened deer in headlights, and tears plipped softly from them, to run down his face and drip off his chin. He was holding his side and throat, gasping for breath, hyperventilating, having a panic attack. Sasuke forced him into a sitting position by the wall. Naruto was shaking. "It's ok, Naruto, its ok" Sasuke rubbed the boys back gently as he gave a strangled sob, burring his face in his arms. "Calm down, it's ok" He repeated the words over and over, rubbing in small circles. Naruto's sobbing quickly calmed down and his body stiffened, acutely aware of the arm draped around his shoulders.

"Sasuke?" Naruto looked up, his eyes red and puffy from crying. Sasuke slid the arm off his back, and the boy visibly relaxed. So he gets uncomfortable with people touching him? That was weird.

"Heya" was all he could think to say. Naruto swallowed visibly.

"Sasuke... I..." He trailed off miserably.

"It's ok." Sasuke told him again "You don't have to explain. Not now. Not if you don't want to. But... I do want to know Naruto."

"No you don't." He looked close to tears again "No you don't." And what could Sasuke possibly say to that? He'd been a real jerk to Naruto. And he knew it. What could he say?

"You given your trip letter in? We're all going." He asked. Naruto stiffened again beside him.

"Yeah. Just did." He scrubbed at his eyes with the back of his hand, trying to make it look like he'd never been crying, but only making it worse, as his eyes became redder and redder with each rub.

"Stop it" Sasuke gently slapped his hand away from his eyes. "You're making it worse"

"Sorry" Naruto's voice was small and weak. "Sorry you had to see this..." the bell rang somewhere down the corridor, he stood up "I've got to go, I've got class." And with that, he was gone, leaving a baffled Sasuke behind.

Next time Sasuke saw Naruto, the blond was back to his usual loud, obnoxious self, with the cheery grin and sparkling blue eyes. He was chatting with Sakura and Ino in front of the place where the coach would arrive in five minutes. He was wearing that horrendous orange monstrosity known as a turtle-neck jumper again, having refused to take it off and Sasuke knew he had had several detentions as a result. Now the teachers had seemed to give up, and let the boy wear it anyway. At least this trip would be in non-school uniform. The blond had taken off the bandage round his head, revealing a thin, red line across the side of his forehead. From his endeavour involving stairs and falling apparently. A cut like that should probably have needed a couple of stitches, Sasuke concluded, but Naruto seemed to not have had any proper medical treatment for the wound. Naruto laughed loudly at something Sakura had said and turned to look at Sasuke. There was a weary, desperation behind the dazzling smile and the sparkly-ness of those blue eyes. Something that made him seem so little and lost. The smile wavered slightly as he saw Sasuke staring at him, and turned back to laugh along with Sakura again.

The coach arrived, and Sakura sat next to Ino, leaving the seat beside Naruto free. Sasuke was about to slip into it, when Kiba made a mad dash for it, and practically threw himself into the seat. Sasuke sat down opposite them, and watched as they laughed and joked the whole journey. He watched Naruto's face light up in almost-joy, and how he grinned a grin that was not quite there.

The coach arrived outside the hotel they were booked to stay in, and Kakashi-Sensei, their English teacher, began reading names off a list. A list of who would be sharing a room with whom. Naruto grinned as Sakura and Ino high-fived as their names were read out together with a girl named Tenten. Naruto's friend Neji was paired with a boy named Shino and another boy clad in green spandex called Lee. And then...

"Uzumaki Naruto, Inuzuka Kiba..." Naruto and Kiba High-fived "...and..." the pair looked around grinning to see who would be their roommate for the week "...Uchiha Sasuke."

"WHAAAATTT?"

**A/N: Yey! Chappie six written! I'm really enjoying writing this (*avoids the people throwing miscellaneous vegetables and screaming 'weirdo'*) ... but I mean really, who didn't see that coming? XD**


	8. Chapter 7

Seven

"No way! There is no way on this Earth I am sharing a room with super-emo-teme boy over there!" Naruto was currently protesting loudly, right up close in Kakashi-sensei's face. Kiba joined in, until their teacher told them to 'shut up and like it or lump it', and they were all stuck in a room together.

Sasuke smiled.

"Teme!" – Naruto was there in front of him now, scowling with his lips curved into a pout. But his eyes looked dulled and empty behind their usual sparkling shine.

"Dobe"

The shine took to his eyes a little more, before:

"Looks like I'm stuck with you." Naruto grumbled half-heartedly.

"Hn."

"Bastard"

"Hn."

"TEME!"

"Hn." Sasuke smiled, causing Naruto to yell and point a finger at him.

"Ahhh! The ice-prince smiled! It's the end of the world!"

"Hn."

"Don't you say anything other than "Hn"?" Sasuke's grin grew at this. It was like the old Naruto again – Happy-go-lucky, rising to whatever challenge Sasuke set.

"No."

Naruto practically fainted.

"THE TEME MADE A JOKE! IT REALLY IS THE END OF THE WORLD!"

And with that, the blond fled to the dining hall, where the class were supposed to meet for lunch, with Kiba in tow.

**A/N: Made me laugh writing this chappie... on to the serious stuff! ... and a very drunk Kiba :3**


	9. Chapter 8

Eight

Ramen.

Urgh. Sasuke scrunched up his nose in distaste as the blond shovelled great mouthfuls of the stuff between his lips. He picked at his classic French cuisine, as the other boy practically attacked his instant-cup-ramen with far more enthusiasm than could ever be necessary.

...

_RAMEN!_

_RAMEN RAMEN RAMEN! The best food IN THE WORLD._ Naruto grinned and took another bite, almost laughing as Sasuke turned his head away in disgust.

_Sasuke._

The smile dropped a little.

_Sasuke._

...

After eating, they had an afternoon of activities – going to the beach, then looking round a French market and buying crepes. Naruto sat on a bench, Sakura and Ino on one side, Kiba on the other, laughing at a joke Sasuke couldn't hear. The blond had a Nutella crepe, which was a sort of chocolate pancake as far as Sasuke could tell, and had managed to smear chocolate all round his mouth. Sasuke took a bite of his cheese and tomato baguette, and glared at the chocolatey mess in Naruto's hands - he hated sweets.

...

Sasuke was the first to collect his room key, make it up the four flights of stairs and find room 545. The room was reasonably spacious, with three single beds, with sheets and blankets to match the blue and silver decor of the room. There was a small, en-suite bathroom, with a toilet, sink and shower, and a wardrobe was built into the wall of the room. Sasuke efficiently unpacked and hung his clothes up in the wardrobe, before pulling out a book, and sitting on the bed closest to the wall opposite the bathroom, that he'd claimed as his, to read.

Naruto and Kiba appeared, grinning, almost half an hour later, with their suitcases, and proceeded to unpack. Kiba tossed his clothes haphazardly in the general direction of the wardrobe and skittered into the bathroom. Naruto was left standing awkwardly by his small suitcase. He stared at it a moment, before placing the battered-looking thing carefully in the wardrobe. He then sat on his bed facing away from Sasuke.

"Hey! This door don't lock! It's broken!" Kiba yelled from inside the bathroom, and Sasuke sighed, he supposed he would have to be the one to ring up reception and tell them, before they got told off for breaking it.

"Well don't break it more!" Naruto called back. Then they fell quiet. Just him and Sasuke in the room.

The silence between the two of them was deafening. If Naruto wasn't going to talk to him, then Sasuke wouldn't talk to Naruto. Naruto scratched the back of his neck. Sasuke turned a page of his book. One of them coughed at some point.

Then Kiba came bounding back into the room, laughing and shouting about how the tap in the bathroom was really cool and that Naruto MUST MUST MUST come and see it RIGHT NOW. The poor blond got dragged into the bathroom.

A shout of "That's soooo cool!" from the blond caused the raven-haired boy to follow them in, to see Naruto playing with the tap on the sink, which was a typical mixer tap, where the cold and hot water come out of one tap-head. Sasuke had one on every tap at home, but here the blond was like he'd never seen one in his life. And Kiba seemed to share that joy, as they were both babbling over the amazingness of the poor little tap.

Sasuke took a look at the lock on the door while he was there, and yes, it was broken, missing the sliding-bar that prevented anyone from entering when locked. He walked out again, and phoned reception about the door. He was informed that the lock wouldn't be able to be fixed until tomorrow. He sighed and rubbed as his face.

"Naruto! I'm going out to grab a few cans from Shika! I'll be back soon!" Kiba came barrelling out the bathroom and through the front door just as Sasuke was hanging up the phone.

Sasuke sat back down on his bed, and picked up his book. He'd read two whole chapters before looking round for Naruto, who was nowhere to be seen. He could faintly hear the sound of running water from the bathroom.

Was he still playing with that stupid tap?

Sasuke laid down his book and walked over to the door, opening it in one fluid motion.

"Naruto, you better not be..."

He froze. Naruto was standing under the shower, eyes wide, frozen. Staring at Sasuke like he was an alien of some kind. Naruto's hands were frozen on the top of the soapy blond hair he was washing, and his tanned skin gleamed in the dim light of the bathroom. But this wasn't what caught Sasuke's attention. There were marks, scars, injuries, all over the blond's body. Bright red finger-shaped marks around his neck, a dark, purple-black boot-shaped bruise on his side. A cigarette burn here, an old yellowed bruise there. Scratches, scrapes and half-healed cuts across his torso and arms. And the scars. Like the ones on his face, they curved over almost every inch of soft, tanned skin.

"Sasuke! Get the hell out!" The blond threw himself from the shower, grabbing a towel, and made to shove Sasuke out the door.

"No! Not until you explain! What the hell..."

"OUT!" Naruto's tone left no room for argument, as Sasuke was forcibly shoved out of the room.

The door banged shut behind him, leaving Sasuke standing, still as a statue, outside the door. A small sob emanated from the bathroom behind him, so quiet Sasuke almost missed it. He closed his eyes. Those injuries. Past and present. Self-harm? No. Those red-hand marks round his neck; they weren't caused by Naruto himself. Someone had tried to throttle the boy. To leave literal fingerprints, they could have killed him.

"Sasuke" Naruto emerged from the bathroom after a good hour or so. Kiba hadn't come back yet from wherever he had ended up, and the blond sat down on his own bed. He was wearing the awful orange jumper again, the fabric of the jumper successfully hiding his injuries, as it covered his torso, arms and neck. No wonder he refused to take it off.

"Naruto..." Sasuke didn't know what to say once more. What could he say? "I... you... what?" He rubbed tiredly at his eyes "Are you ok?" he ended up asking. Naruto shrugged.

"Yeah... I just fell down the stairs" His voice was small and tear-strained.

"Naruto... please... tell me. What happened? You look like you were attacked or something? A flight of stairs can't leave fingerprints! Was it bullies? Men in town? Perverts? Naruto!" Sasuke's voice grew rapidly more and more frantic.

"No... Sasuke... I..."

"My brother works for the police, My Dad practically owns them. We can help, Naruto. It's ok... I..."

"No!" Naruto shook his head "No... Sasuke... I... Why do you even care?" The blond refused to look Sasuke in the eyes, seemingly afraid of whatever the answer would be. Then Sasuke realised – he'd been a bully to the boy himself when they were younger, after Naruto had gone all quiet and changed. Changed. Was this why Naruto had changed all that time ago? _How long has this been going on?_

"I... do you know... I... oh Naruto. What can I say to make it up to you dobe?" He so badly wanted to wrap the smaller boy in his arms and apologise over and over.

"Teme..." He smiled weakly "make what up to me?"

"Me... I've been a real jerk... a real bastard. I..." he practically choked on the words, he hated this, Uchiha's weren't supposed to get all emotional... but this... this... "I'm sorry, Naruto."

"Sasuke... It's ok. You don't really have anything to apologise for. I... I've already forgiven you. I... were friends after all, right?"

"Friends?" Sasuke asked, and Naruto grinned.

"Friends." He nodded, as if nothing had ever changed between them at all. After all this time, all he'd done, Naruto still thought of him as a friend. "I was a bit apprehensive when you came back, and I fell off my chair..."

"I pushed you Naruto" – but the blond just waved this off.

"No... It was my fault for sleeping really."

"Naruto... I..."

"YO!" This was the moment Kiba came bounding in the door, a can of Stella in one hand and a stupid grin on his face. He staggered sideways and tripped over nothing at all – completely off his head.

"God Kiba... you're such a lightweight. How many have you even had?" Naruto sighed, standing up and pulling his friend off the floor. Kiba draped his arms all over Naruto, who stiffened at the contact, and dumped him on his own bed, turning towards the bathroom.

"'Rutooo!" Kiba tackled him from behind, throwing one arm around his chest and one around his neck. They both crashed to the floor as Kiba tried to awkwardly hug him.

"Ow... Kiba... get off..."

Kiba was pressing his face into Naruto's neck. Sasuke stood up and pulled Kiba off him with a growl. Naruto was laid on the floor, chest heaving as he seemed to be struggling for air, while Kiba laughed and tried to kiss Sasuke, who pushed him away, annoyed. Naruto curled up on the floor, his head in his hands.

"Naruto. Hey, Naruto. It's ok, It's alright" He found himself repeating the same words again, as he once more found himself on the floor by Naruto, rubbing small circles on his back. A loud snore erupted from Kiba's direction, indicating the boy had fallen asleep.

"Sasuke..." Naruto looked up at him, his eyes dry but hazy.

"Hey." Sasuke removed his arm from round his shoulders. "You should probably go to the doctors about those injuries." He was surprised when Naruto just shook his head.

"It's ok. They're healing fine on their own... I heal fast... I... Sasuke... please, please don't tell anyone about this... I..."

"Fine. Fine, just promise me something... Tell me. Ok? If this ever happens again, you will tell me, and I will do something about it ok... even if that means telling other people... ok?"

"Sasuke I..."

"Promise me Naruto"

"... I promise."

...

Naruto fell asleep in his bed between Kiba and Sasuke that night feeling warmer and safer than he ever had in his life.

**...**

**A/N: Awwwwh, poor Naruto. I felt so mean writing this. :S Reviews to tell me what you thinks would be wonderful! :D xxx**


	10. Chapter 9

Nine

Naruto had a weird dream. It was more of a memory really. He was sitting in their living room, not older than eight years, and short for his age. His new Mummy and Daddy had just taken him for a haircut on the way home from school and he ran his hands through the short, blond spikes happily. His New-Mummy was in the kitchen cooking, and New-Daddy was now putting up a new shelf in the living room. Naruto had a computer game to play, on his new Nintendo DS and he was busy zapping aliens on the console when he heard the crash from the kitchen. His New-Daddy dropped the shelf and ran in. New-Mummy was on the floor. New-Daddy was shaking her, calling her name. He didn't understand what was happening. His New-Daddy was shouting at him, and he didn't understand why New-Daddy was angry. Why won't New-Mummy wake up? He was crying now. This made his New-Daddy even angrier. He was screaming at Naruto, and grabbed him by the arm, shouting at him. New-Daddy picked up the kitchen knife that Mummy had been chopping vegetables with, and waved it at the sobbing child, telling him to just shut up. Shut up. Shut up. He cut three lines on each of the little boy's cheek, and he was laughing and laughing. He threw Naruto across the room and the boy hit his head on the kitchen counter. He clutched his wife's body and sobbed until the ambulance crew found him.

New-Mummy was not coming back. He was told. This made Naruto upset. He had liked his New-Mummy; she bought him candy floss and computer games. She was soft and cuddly and smelled of peaches warmth and home. And now she was gone, like his real Mummy and Daddy.

Gone and never coming back.

People from social services came round often after his New-Mummy's death, they asked lots of questions about him and his New-Daddy and if he wanted to stay, and Naruto answered that yes, he did, like he was supposed to or he knew New-Daddy would hit him again later. And he didn't want to leave; not really, he didn't want to lose another Daddy. But really, Naruto knew he'd lost the man he'd have liked to call Father the moment his wife died.

He wasn't his Father.

Not anymore.

His New-Daddy had begun to swear and curse at him, and he'd started drinking. He would lash out and break things. Naruto's favourite computer games were crushed when his New-Daddy had first told him not to tell anyone anything about how they really lived, on TV dinners, scraps and benefit money. New-Daddy forbade Naruto from talking to anyone. Anyone at all.

He once saw him and Sasuke playing in the playground at school, and when he got home his New-Daddy beat him into unconsciousness with his thick leather belt. He'd avoided everyone since then.

At least until Year nine of High school. That's when he'd made friends with Sakura and Kiba and Ino. And then there was Neji and Lee and Shino and Choji and Shikamaru. He never invited them round, and was careful to never let his foster father see them.

His foster father would shout at him at all hours of the day and night, and when Naruto did not obey him fast enough, the man would beat him. Sometimes not even waiting for an excuse to. He just took all of his pain and anger at the world out on a little boy.

New-Mummy had had a heart-attack.

New-Daddy said Naruto had dragged her round that day, caused her too much stress with getting his hair cut... New-Daddy said Naruto had killed New-Mummy.

He'd not had his hair cut properly since.

...

Naruto woke with a gasp and sat bolt upright.

Kiba groaned loudly next to him, as Naruto fisted his hand into his orange jumper and tries to still his racing heart. He looked over at Sasuke, seeing he was very much asleep still - eyes closed, breathing even. Naruto took a deep breath and lay back down.

He really hated dreams of the past.

...

Sasuke opened one dark eye, and then the other; Naruto had suddenly sat up gasping. He'd been tossing and turning in his bed for the last half hour, obviously having a nightmare. Naruto struggled for breath, and then looked around the room. Sasuke quickly closed his eyes and relaxed his body – feinting sleep. He heard Naruto sigh and lie back down, rolling on his side towards Kiba. Sasuke opened his eyes again, and stared at the silhouette of his friend's body on the bed beside him. Yup, he'd definitely had a nightmare.

_Question was: what about?_

...

Naruto fell asleep in his bed between Kiba and Sasuke that night feeling warmer and safer than he ever had in his life.

**...**

**...**

**A/N: *Gives Naruto a hug* Poor Naruto :S Have I made him too venerable? I suppose after dealing with a life like the one I've given him he would be a bit... but this is Naruto for crying out loud, Naruto who can deal with pretty much anything... ah well... I suppose he'll stay soppy Naruto for a while in this story... makes for a cuter H/C fic :3 Don't be afraid to drop me a review and tell me what you think! :D**

**Next time: seriously pervy Orochimaru! Be very afraid! :O **


	11. Chapter 10

Ten

They'd been on this trip for four days. Naruto had refused to swim in the pool with the others every evening, and he'd eaten like crazy at meal-times. Seriously, Sasuke didn't know it was even humanely possible to eat that much ramen. Sasuke's face dropped; had the boy been eating properly at home?

Home. That was a thought. Sasuke didn't even know where the blond lived. Or who his parents were. Or if he had any brothers or sisters. He didn't know anything about the blond's house. Did he live in a house? Bungalow? Mansion? Certainly not the last one from the way the boy reacted to seeing a mixer tap.

He looked over to the blond, who was now talking to Kakashi-sensei about something.

"Sensei! I do participate in activities! I just don't want to swim in the pool!"

"But Naruto... we don't want you to feel left out or be excluded from the group, this is a daily activity, a prominent part of the trip... perhaps if you could give me a reason to why you don't want to swim..."

"I can't swim Sensei! I never learnt how!" Naruto sighed exasperated. Sasuke wondered if this was true or not, he'd never seen Naruto swim.

"Then perhaps I can help" A new voice suddenly made Sasuke shiver, a sentiment apparently shared by Naruto. Orochimaru-Sensei had suddenly appeared behind the blond, and laid a cold hand on his shoulder, Naruto stiffened, and tried to pull away, but Orochimaru held his grip tight, with a smile on his face "I had a holiday job teaching children how to swim once... I'm fully qualified" Sasuke shuddered again; he couldn't imagine the snake-like man teaching anyone how to swim.

"No... I don't think..." began Kakashi-Sensei with a frown prominent under his mask.

"It'll be fine... come along Naruto." And with that the snake dragged the poor boy out from under the teacher's noses.

Sasuke suddenly got a horrible feeling in his gut. He remembered how Orochimaru had laid his hand on Naruto's thigh in class once. He knew what a huge pervert Orochimaru was.

Was Orochimaru the one hurting Naruto?

He suddenly stood up from his seat and followed after them.

Sasuke hurried down the hallway, Naruto had been dragged by Orochimaru in the opposite direction from the swimming pool, towards the teachers rooms. Sasuke had a very, very bad feeling about this.

"Sen...Sensei!" Naruto's voice, coming from down the hall "Sensei... what...?" Sasuke put on a burst of speed. A muffled yell came from the room in front of him. Room 232.

"Oh come on my little blond, you're going to do exactly what I say now, or else your father will know about it."

"He's not my father!" Sasuke heard the blond cry as he tried to open the door. It was locked.

"But still... you know what will happen if you're a bad little boy now don't you Naruto, if I tell Daddy?" The snake's greasy voice was cold and dark, sending shivers up Sasuke's spine.

"How the hell do you? No... stop. Please. Stop... I..." Naruto's sobbing voice was suddenly muffled.

"Shut up brat..."

"Naruto!" Sasuke pounded on the door "Open this fucking door Orochimaru!"

There was a splintering crack as the doors hinges broke under Sasuke's onslaught. The door crashed down. Naruto was laid on the spacious double bed. Orochimaru straddled over him. Naruto's hands were held above his head with one of Orochimaru's hands and his other was pressed over the blond's mouth. The boy's eyes were wide and scared, tears leaking from the corners.

"Get. The. Fuck. Off. Him" Sasuke growled, shoving the snake-man off his friend. Orochimaru crashed to the floor with a howl of pain as Sasuke's shoulder barrelled into his side. "Naruto! Naruto!" The boy was frozen in fear. His eyes wide and unseeing, tears making tracks down his face. Sasuke gathered the boy into his arms. "Shhh. It's ok Naru. It's all ok. I won't let him hurt you."

"What the hell is going on here?" Kakashi-sensei was stood in the doorway, his one visible eye angry and cold.

**...**

**...**

**A/N: NARRRRUUUUTTTTOOOOO! D: Reviews please! How mean of me was it to do that to him! Bad Orochimaru! *hits with a big stick* KATSU! :3**


	12. Chapter 11

Eleven

Naruto was huddled on his bed in their room, his knees pulled up to his forehead, and his arms wrapped around them. Ino, Sakura and Kiba clustered around the blond, trying to coax him out of his ball. When the promise of all the ramen he wants had no effect, Sasuke sighed loudly, and pushed away from the wall he was leaning on.

"Dobe?" No reaction "Usuratonkachi?" A muffled sniff "Naruto?" Sasuke sighed loudly again "Give him some space, in fact, can you go get some instant ramen or something for him?"

The girls giggled, and fluttered their eyelashes at him, and dragged a reluctant Kiba off in search of food. He'd not told them what had happened, but Ino had seen Naruto being taken to his room almost in tears, so naturally everyone on the trip now knew he'd been upset, and his friends had come to coo and pet over him.

With yet another long suffering sigh, Sasuke settled on the bed, and wrapped one awkward arm around the boy's shoulders.

"Was it Orochimaru who'd hurt you before then?"

Orochimaru who'd insisted it was all a big misunderstanding, apologised in his slimy freaky way, and more or less got away with it. He'd persuaded the school governor Kabuto he was innocent, and Kabuto had pulled some strings persuaded the others. Together they could be horribly convincing. Sasuke decided he really, really hated the man. Kakashi-sensei seemed to be on to him though, but one man can't stand alone against the governors.

Naruto squeezed his knees tighter against his chest, and buried his face further into them, with a wet snuffly noise. Sasuke rubbed a hand across his face, he was getting nowhere.

"Naruto. Please. I... we... we're friends right?" He ruffled the boy's spiky locks, letting the soft strands slide through his fingers. He felt Naruto give a small nod under his palm. "Good... can you talk to me? Please Naruto. What did he want?"

"I think it's pretty obvious what he wanted thankyou!" Naruto growled, jerking his head up, his expression torn between anger and frustration. The look then melted away into one of despair "It's not worth it Sasuke" he muttered "Don't go against Orochimaru". Sasuke almost screamed in frustration.

"He's a teacher! He should be responsible, Naruto! He can't get away with this! What if he targets other people?"

Naruto's expression became one of absolute horror.

"No... No, he wouldn't..." He stammered. Sasuke rubbed exasperatedly at his face again, lowering his tone.

"Naruto, why now? Why this? Why you?" Naruto froze, eyes wide, afraid.

"Orochimaru... he knows my foster father... I... I'm a safe bet to..." Naruto buried his head in his knees again; he'd said too much, far too much, what if Sasuke worked it out? What would Kai do to him? _To Sasuke?_ He couldn't risk it.

"Your foster father?" Sasuke sounded angry, oh god, he sounded angry "Naruto, your father knows about this? He allows it to happen? Naruto! How long's this been going on?"

"He's not my father!"

Naruto slapped his hands over his mouth; he'd already said too much, Sasuke knew too much.

"Does he know?"

_Yes!_

"No. Just forget about it, Sasuke, it doesn't matter..."

He'd said far too much. Why wouldn't Sasuke just drop it?

"Naruto! How long?"

Naruto sniffed and wiped his nose on the back of his hand.

"This was the first time he tried to... you know... I... It was always touches... little things... I..." He dissolved into sobbing again, and Sasuke tightened the arm around his shoulders.

"It'll be ok." He said, because there was nothing else he could say, and so he repeated it over and over. "It'll be ok. It'll be ok."

Naruto finally took a deep breath and seemed to pull himself together.

"Yeah" he wiped his eyes "Yeah, it will."

But inside he was screaming: _NO! NO! It won't be! It never will be!_

_I'll never escape this._

**...**

**...**

**A/N: I've just realised a grave error dear readers... I wrote the prologue in the first person and the rest in the third... oopsie... :S ... looks like we might have random change in the use of personal pronouns soon. Does that matter? I wonder if there's some amazingly clever way I can change P.O.V... *strokes imaginary beard thoughtfully* XD**

**Anyways... what did you think? You likey, no likey? **

**Drop Lenle a review! :D xxx**


	13. Chapter 12

Twelve

Sasuke looked at the sleeping form of his friend, on the bed between him and Kiba. Kiba was snoring loudly, disguising Naruto's small sleepy snuffles under a noise like thunder. Naruto had had another nightmare, and woken screaming. Kiba, of course, had slept like a rock, but Sasuke had been forced into wakefulness. He watched as the boy's breathing evened out as he slipped back off to sleep, and his gaze caught at where the unruly blond strands of hair were fluffed against the pillow. He had the covers drawn up to his chin, and he lay towards Sasuke, so he could see the blond eyelashes flutter in sleep. The three dark strips that lined his cheeks were cast in shadow. Sasuke stared at them. It wasn't the first time he'd wondered where they came from.

_The same source as his other injuries?_

_And what was that?_

_Orochimaru?_

Sasuke grit his teeth, suppressing a growl of frustration.

_Why won't Naruto just talk to me?_

It was Thursday, they would be going home tomorrow evening, and he wouldn't see Naruto for two whole days.

_For the weekend._

He sighed and rubbed at his face – that was becoming a habit around Naruto.

_Why won't he talk to me?_

**...**

They were packing up their things into their bags. It had been a good last day, ending in a trip to a French restaurant, and Naruto moaning incessantly about a lack of ramen. He'd gone quiet though, stuffing startling lumps of orange and black cloth into his worn rucksack. He zipped it closed and sat on Kiba's suitcase as he tried to clip it closed.

Then they were on the coach, Naruto silent and pensive, staring out the window.

He wished this trip could have never ended.

Naruto, unbeknown to him, was wishing the exact same thing, at the exact same moment.

He didn't want to go home.

**...**

**...**

**A/N: Well... there you go. Chapter Twelve :D Drop us a review if you liked it! :D xxx  
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	14. Chapter 13

Thirteen

(Unlucky for some)

He tried to open the door as quietly as possible. He really did. But the hinges creak. They creak really loudly. Too loudly.

There was a crash.

A loud, echoing crash.

A pain in the side of his face.

And he was on the floor.

"You lil' fucker!"

Kai.

Standing over him, a scowl creasing his face into furrows, a snarl on his lips. His breath stank of alcohol. He'd been drinking. He was worse when he'd been drinking.

_Shit._

...

Sasuke followed Itachi in, and locked the door behind him, tucking his key's into his pocket.

"Mum, Dad, we're home!"

"In the kitchen boys!" - came the call in response. Sasuke's brother, Itachi, had come to pick him up from where the coach had dropped them off, at school, in his police car. He'd had to literally drag Kiba away from it to stop him drooling all over the bonnet and begging Itachi to put him in handcuffs. He smiled, remembering Kiba being hugged by his mother and cuddling his dog, Akamaru, who he'd been moaning about missing all week. He remembered Sakura and Ino and their parents, hugging smiling and babbling excitedly about all the amazing things they'd done over the week. And he remembered seeing Naruto, small and alone, walking away, as Itachi put his hand on his shoulder and steered him into the front seat.

His smile slipped a bit, then it grew as a idea formed.

He'd got Itachi to offer Naruto a lift home. He looked horribly reluctant at first, but was eventually persuaded. It had been cold outside, with night just falling, and no one would want to walk six blocks in the cold. They'd dropped him off at the end of his road, and Sasuke had watched him walk to the door of a run down, semi detached house, and fit a key to the lock. Itachi had driven off then, and taken Sasuke home.

"How was your trip?" His mother shuffled over from where she was making dinner, and carefully embraced him with a gentle smile. His father sent a grin and a nod of welcome his way and went back to his paperwork.

"It was..." he trailed off and Itachi raised one eyebrow prompting him to continue; "eventful." His older brother's other eyebrow joined the first, giving him a surprised, curious look at his tone of voice.

"That's nice dear, now run along and unpack your bags." Mikoto gave her youngest son another warm smile, and went back to chopping vegetables.

"I'll help, little brother" Itachi placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, ruffled his hair, and steered him up the stairs to his room. He sat on Sasuke's bed while his brother unpacked and flattened his black spikes back into shape.

"Eventful huh?" he asked.

Sasuke stared at him a long moment, before proceeding to tell him everything about the trip. Everything about Naruto.

...

"Where the hell have you been?"

Thud. His head hit the floor.

"You were dropped off by some police car"

Smack. His face stung.

"What have you been tellin' people?"

Crack. His shoulder collided with the wall.

"Where you been!"

Naruto's head hit the floor again, as the blows rained down.

"School trip. You... signed... form..."

Crash. Into the coffee table.

"Fucker!" He was furious "You. Can't. Escape. Me." Thwack.

"You're crazy!" and he was. He had been ever since his foster mother had died.

There was blood in his eyes, nose, mouth. Warm and bitter with a horrible, sharp, metallic tang. Pain radiated up his arm and torso, blossoming across his skin, raging like a fire – hot and bright and burning. A boot collided with his chest, he sucked in a breath. It felt like an iron band was tightening around it. Crushing him. Like a thousand needles in his lungs. His head felt stuffed with cotton wool and raw pain.

"All I've done for you, you little shit!"

And Kai was kicking him. In his ribs. There was a sharp crack. He tried to force himself up. To get away. His body refused to be forced. He couldn't breathe. The world was spinning. He felt sick. It was the taste of blood. His vision was going fuzzy. Black and white like white noise on a TV set crackling across it. His arm was limp and unresponsive; his elbow felt on fire, it felt like the bones in it were splintering, cracking as it was wrenched up behind his back. The band around his chest was tightening. It was like trying to breathe underwater.

Like he was drowning.

He felt his eyelids slide groggily closed.

He felt himself being bodily dragged, shoved, kicked and distantly heard the sound of a door slamming, as his body hit cold stone, and the world disappeared.

...

Sasuke shivered. He'd suddenly felt a sort of... breeze, a draft, and paused in his recounting of events to Itachi. Something suddenly felt very, very wrong.

"Did you feel that?" He asked shaking his body, but he couldn't quite shake the feeling. Itachi gave him a funny look.

"Feel what?" He asked. Sasuke shrugged.

"Not sure..." And he proceeded to tell Itachi how Naruto had been on the coach on the way home, all quiet and pensive. "It was like he didn't want to go home" Sasuke laughed, then he shuddered, that cold, uncomfortable feeling still there – a sense of foreboding.

"I'm going to be off now" Itachi patted his shoulder "Got a late shift at the station tonight" He grinned "Got to keep Kisame and Deidra from killing each other, now don't I?"

Sasuke let out a sharp bark of laughter at the mention of his brother's co-workers and smiled.

"Yeah"

He lay on his bed as Itachi left, waiting to hear the revving of the car engine in the drive. He frowned. Itachi was sure taking a long time. He'd thought he had to be there soon? There was that cold sense of foreboding again. Sasuke shivered.

Footsteps on the stairs now.

Sasuke had moved to sit on his bed, about to get up, when Itachi poked his head round the door.

"Naruto left his rucksack in the car, you want to come and take it back to him? I can't remember where we dropped him off. Somewhere round fourth street right?"

"Fifth" corrected Sasuke, that sense of foreboding growing, large and uncomfortable in his chest "Yeah, I'll come with you."

**...**

**...**

**A/N: Awwwh! Naru-chan! :O Evil Kai! *brings out that stick again and starts sharpening the end* :3**


	15. Chapter 14

Fourteen

They pulled the car up into Fifth Street, parking half up on the curb. Sasuke clambered out, Naruto's rucksack in hand. It was quite light, for having a week's worth of clothes, and turtle neck jumpers mercilessly stuffed in it. Sasuke frowned at the observation and looked around. The streetlamps left dark shadows and patches of a dim glowing light splattered across the pavements that stained the concrete with a dirty orange colour. The ground was riddled with chewing gum and cigarette butts and it was stained and crazed by age and time. The paintwork on the houses was peeling, windows broken, and bricks discoloured. The whole street had a decayed, dirty feel about it. Of grime and filth and decomposition. The feel of a place that has lost the happiness and love it once held.

Naruto had gone into number 43 earlier that evening. He was walking towards the steps at the front, where they were just outside the glowing ring of light from the nearest streetlamp, and cast in shadow. Sasuke squinted. There was something dark and lumpy sprawled at the bottom of the stairs, what looked like limbs stuck out at odd angles. A dog? No... It looked more... human. Fear rose in his throat, clogging his airways. His footsteps became more rapid. His heart pounded in his chest. As his eyes adjusted to the dark, and he could just about make out a mop of the exact blond hair he dreaded to see and what looked like the dark red stain of...

"Naruto!"

He broke into a run, skidding to a halt at the boy's side.

"Naruto! Naruto! Can you hear me? Naruto!" He rolled him over carefully. His face was covered in blood, his eyes firmly closed. His skin several shades paler than Sasuke's own, like white, almost grey porcelain. A long shot from his healthy tan. It was cool to the touch, nearing the feel of marble. How long had he been laying here? "Naruto!" There was so much blood. He pressed two careful fingers to the side of the boy's neck. His hands were shaking. Shaking too much.

"Itachi!"

His brother had already heard his shouts, and was getting out the car; radio in hand, a frown just visible on his face in the poor light.

"Itachi, help! It's Naruto!"

He dropped the radio, and was running towards him, a look of horror on his face. Sasuke took a deep breath, trying to calm his hands, trying to find a pulse. To see if he was even still...

"Sasuke." And Itachi was there, kneeling beside him, knocking his hands away and pressing his own fingers to Naruto's pulse point, leaning his cheek over his lips to test for breathing.

"He's alive" came the sigh of relief a horribly tense minute later. Sasuke let go a breath he hadn't realised he was holding. A knot of worry and fear had formed in his chest, wound tightly around his heart. "He needs a hospital" Itachi muttered, and Sasuke found himself nodding automatically in agreement. "I'll go get car" He pulled Sasuke's hand up to rest over the blond's battered chest "Keep an eye on his breathing, and try to clear his airways a bit". Then he ran off, to the other end of the street, where the car waited.

Sasuke rested two fingers under Naruto's chin and gently pushed his head back, as they'd once been shown in school, in a first aid session. And let his mouth fall open. The walls of his mouth and his tongue were bloody and raw but his throat seemed unclogged, unblocked, free to breathe. He leant over and hovered his face just above the blond's lips, and measured each tiny, pained breath that puffed against his cheek.

_Come on Naruto. Come on._

Itachi pulled the car up, and they fashioned their jackets together and slid them under the limp form of Sasuke's friend.

"Come on Naruto. You'll be alright" Sasuke told his unconscious friend as they laid him across the back seats, his head resting in Sasuke's lap. He plugged in his seatbelt, and clipped the down parts of the other two across Naruto. The boy's arm was bent at a funny angle, bruises blossoming across the tanned skin, a particularly nasty one across one cheek bone. His chest rising and falling unevenly with each shallow breath he took. Blood on his face; from his nose. Cuts and scrapes across his skin – new scars to add to his collection.

The drive to the hospital was a tense one.

Itachi raced down the main road at well over the speed limit. Talking rapidly in the radio; his words unfathomable to Sasuke. Sirens on. Blue lights flashing. Sasuke's heart pounding, as Naruto lay, unresponsive, in his lap.

**...**

**...**

**A/N: Naruto! I feel so evil. Poor little blondie :'(**

**What did we think of this chapter then peeps? Who's worried about our Naru-chan? I am :S**

**Thanks for reading so far! xxx**


	16. Chapter 15

Fifteen

It was a long, horrible wait.

I waited with Itachi outside his room. His blood on my hands, my clothes. I just sat staring at them, at a loss on what to do. Naruto was just behind the door before me. So close. And yet so, so far away. Finally Itachi dragged me home. He'd called the others at the station. They'd gone and raided the house.

Found no-one.

_Who'd done this?_

_Orochimaru? _Was my first suspect.

_No._

_Orochimaru had some kind of grudge or something against Naruto, but this, this..._

I'd told Itachi what had happened, he agreed that this would be a little extreme, and he asked me who else I thought might have done this...

_His foster father?_

I rubbed at my face, dried blood cracking and peeling in the rub of skin on skin. I shuddered. Felt sick. I was sat in the front of the police car, on my way home, leaving Naruto behind me with no conceivable family, no friends beside him for when he wakes up. If he wakes up. They'd been unable to contact his foster father, even though Itachi had advised them against trying. But the man had completely disappeared.

_And if that's not suspicious, I don't know what is._

...

Itachi have a long sigh. He must have picked that habit up from Sasuke.

_Sasuke._

Itachi looked over at his brother, who sat quietly beside him in the passenger seat of the car, pointedly avoiding looking at the backseat where his friend's blood stained the upholstery.

He'd have to get that cleaned of course.

And Itachi found himself sighing again.

**...**

**...**

**A/N: Ok, so a short little chapter here... must write more next time! :D What will Sasuke do now he suspects Kai of hurting Naruto? Find out next time! (*Laughs herself silly writing this author note*)**

**Oh, and yes... random change from 3rd person to 1st... but there you go. That's life. :3  
><strong>

**Reviews would be greatly appreciated please, the Lenle loves feedback! :D**


	17. Chapter 16

Sixteen

Two whole weeks.

Two whole weeks of waiting.

Two whole weeks of his foster father not being found.

Two whole weeks... and Naruto was coming to live with us.

I have no idea how Itachi talked the authorities into it. Hell, I've got no idea how he persuaded our parents to take him in. It would be temporary they said, he'd not be here too long.

I sat at his bedside – three cracked ribs, a broken arm and a wonderful concussion apparently tends to put you in bed for a while. He was in the spare room, next to mine, with a shared en-suite (with a door that, thank God, did lock). Tucked up in my own blue blankets, a scowl on his face as I tried to feed him.

"Awh come on Naruto! Its ramen, your favourite!"

"Saaaasuke! I'm not a complete idiot! I can feed myself you know!" he whined in response, and I found myself snickering at his grumpy expression.

"Sure you're not, Usuratonkachi." I smirked "You're just a complete and total idiot"

"Sasuke!" He growled. I grinned at him. He was getting better remarkably fast – I guess he was right, he does heal quickly. He huffed as I held the chopsticks up again, he'd broken his right arm – the one he wrote and coincidentally held chopsticks with. Much to his dismay.

"I can use my other one Sasuke!" He scowled, but ate the ramen off the chopsticks I was holding all the same. I knew he couldn't hold out for too long, not with the promise of ramen in front of him. Mum had made some specially, proper, home cooked ramen. The look of his face when I'd brought it in was like he'd never seen the stuff before.

But then, maybe he'd only ever eaten cup ramen?

"Sorry." Naruto wasn't looking at me now – he was gazing pointedly at a spot on the floor, brow furrowed, chewing at one of his lips.

"What for?" I replied, in the lightest tone I could manage, holding up the chopsticks again.

"Being such a burden... I..."

He thought he was a burden? No. It was wonderful to have him here. Safe. Healing. With me. How else was I going to keep an eye on the idiot?

"Naruto, you're not, I..."

"Sasuke! This is embarrassing. I hate this. I hate relying on you..."

He was completely avoiding look at me again.

I stood up silently. I should have known; he probably just wanted to be at home, this was probably too weird, I mean, I bullied him right? Why would he want to stay with me? And I...

"You really hate being here then?"

I turned to leave.

"No!"

I whirled around. Naruto was staring at me wide eyed, horribly afraid.

"No." He whispered, terrified "Don't make me go back there, please Sasuke, please..." And then somehow I'd crossed the room and gathered him into my arms and he was snuffling into my shoulder.

_Don't cry Naruto. Don't cry._

"You don't have to leave." I told him "You're not a burden to any of us... I just thought... sorry. I didn't really think. Of course you don't want to go home" I nearly slapped my own forehead. Of course he wouldn't want to be alone in that old house with nothing but memories of the people he's lost, and the constant threat of his Kai's return - he was still out there somewhere.

His foster father.

I grit my teeth.

"Naruto, it was Kai who did this, wasn't it?"

He froze up. This was the first time I'd directly asked him. The first time anyone had. He had yet to give a statement to the police, and he hadn't spoken much to Itachi or my parents. After what felt like a silence that went on forever, slowly, oh so slowly, he nodded.

**...**

**...**

**A/N: Awh. At least Sasuke knows properly now. :D **

**And Naruto is living with the Uchiha's! The really... far too nice... Uchiha's... ah well :D**

**Reviews would make my day! :D xxx**


	18. Chapter 17

Seventeen

"What happened? Naruto... I..."

Naruto closed his eyes, hiding their startling blue colour; he swallowed loudly, clearing his throat – stalling for time. When he began talking, his voice was barely above a whisper – such a far cry from the loud, obnoxious tone I was used to.

"It started when my foster mother, when Laila, died." He took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves, settle his stomach "Kai would come home angry, drunk, and I... I was a good target, an easy one. It got worse after a parents evening once, Orochimaru had been reading Kai's blog, he used to write one on films and post it on the internet, and they talked, and... I don't know... they must have come to the conclusion I was the scum of the Earth or something, because that's when the..." he broke off, losing the words he was doing so well to find.

"When Orochimaru started abusing you." I concluded. He nodded slightly in response, pointedly avoiding my gaze again. "Then what?" I dared ask.

He proceeded to tell me how Kai would beat him at home, and how Orochimaru was always there at school leering over him. How he had to hide his injuries. Make excuses. Lie. How they threatened that if he told anyone anything they'd...

"... and then you came back." I noticed the small smile that picked up the corners of his mouth "I thought you were going to be like that again at first" I frowned, realising he meant the bullying. "But then we went on the trip, and... for all that happened, there were bits of it, like when we went to the market and had pancakes, and when we stole Sakura's make-up, Oh!" he let out a short bark of laughter "and when Kiba pushed you in the pool! It was fun, Sasuke, it was really fun." I smiled slightly, I'd been fully clothed and the water was freezing, but it was worth the laugh it got out of Naruto. I think that's why Kiba pushed me in the first place. _Idiots._

"Kai didn't want me to go on the trip. I'd sort of secretly gotten him to sign the form, he was angry, and he..." He trailed off, leaving me to work out what he meant. It didn't take a genius.

"And that's why you came to school covered in bandages. You idiot." I growled, was the trip really worth that. I sighed and laid a hand on his arm. "Naruto, surely it wasn't worth that?"

"But it was!" he turned to face me, tears swimming in his big blue eyes, threatening to overflow "It was worth it to spend a week away from him, to go to France, to spend time with you" He blinked and corrected himself "All of you guys." I smiled; the hand on his arm had made its way round his shoulders.

"And when you got home?"

His whole body tensed up again.

"You dropped me off, and I unlocked the door, and Kai was there... and he was angry Sasuke, so angry. He'd been alone for a week, with, you know, the memories of Laila, and I wasn't there for him to take his frustration out on I guess, so it all pent up, and..." He broke off with his first true sob of the evening, looking downcast and ashamed.

I gathered him into my arms and we sat there all night, the cast on his arm digging into my side, but it didn't matter, and it was nice when Itachi brought us each a hot chocolate.

I swear; I know no-one other than Naruto who would have five sugars and a mountain of cream and those pink and white mini marshmallows in his mug.

I look down at my plain, bitter hot chocolate.

Who else would have such a crazy sweet tooth?

I smile.

**...**

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**A/N: Happily sips at her hot chocolate :3 xxx**


	19. Chapter 18

Eighteen

Itachi came in and plonked himself down at the table with a great sigh. Naruto went and placed a mug of tea and a couple of Jammie Dodgers in front of him, shot him one of his super-smiles, and turned back to helping my mother with the washing up. Itachi crams a one of the biscuits in his mouth and lets his head drop on the table as he chews, one had affixed to the handle of the mug.

"Urgh" He groans.

I find him two asprin out the cupboard and leave them by his mug, going back to my book. I catch the grateful smile he shoots my way.

"Thanks Sasuke, I've had such a day..." and he goes back to trying to force his forehead into the wood of the table. Naruto and I exchange a look. He's worried. I roll my eyes to tell him it'll be fine, and he treats me to a hopeful grin.

Six weeks he'd been living with us.

Six weeks of mindless chatter, video games, and late-night hot chocolates.

Six weeks of headaches for Itachi and his fellow police officers. Even Dad was stressed – he was working late that night.

Kai had still not been found.

Naruto was still living with us.

When giving his statement to the police, he had been asked about his arrangements for living. My Father, the head of police, had stepped in and offered him a home with us. Much to all our surprise.

I smile. It's wonderful having Naruto around. His injuries were quickly fading into scars. His broken arm no longer in its cast. We'd go to school together each morning in Itachi's car, eat lunch with Kiba, Ino and Sakura, and be picked up by my brother again after school. Even after so having so long to get used to it, Naruto still shoots the car a nervous glance as he gets in the back.

I don't blame him really.

God knows how Itachi got that stain out.

I frown.

"Welcome home" My mother embraces the three of us in turn. Naruto. Itachi. Me. We chat aimlessly until the smile finds its way back onto my face as she ruffles Naruto's blond spikes.

"Really dear, you need a really hair cut" We laugh. Naruto freezes. "I can take you tomorrow after school if you..." His eyes turn wide and deathly afraid of something.

"No!" He all but shouts, cutting her off, his eyes filling with tears. He all but runs to his room. Tripping on the third step and gathering himself up again. We hear loud sobs coming from the landing, then the slamming of a door.

We all stand frozen for a moment, staring at each other, until mum asks "Was it something I said?"

I sigh, and go after him, Itachi hot on my heels.

Up the stairs, I press my ear to the wooden door, and hear the sounds of sobbing from within. Itachi hovers nervously behind me.

"You don't think he was abused while having his hair cut or something, do you?" He whispers, because what else would have been the trigger of this, than my mum mentioning him having a haircut?

"What?" I hiss back, turning to stare at him. How on earth could someone be abused while having their hair cut?

"You know, maybe Kai attacked him with the scissors? Lots of parents cut their kids hair." It seemed feasible enough to Itachi, but I shake my head.

"I don't think he's had a haircut in a long time, so I don't think Kai would have the chance to attack him with a pair of scissors."

Itachi shrugs at me.

"Maybe his foster mother used to cut his hair? You know, Laila?" I give him a long look. "Kids can be traumatised by a normal routine they would do with a loved one after that person dies."

"You might be on to something there." I say, I raising one hand to knock on the door "Naruto?" I call "Naruto?"

I put my hand on the handle, it's unlocked, and I pause a moment to debate whether or not I should go in... Sighing impatiently, Itachi pushes past me, and goes into the room.

"Naruto." I heard him say, accompanied by the creak of bedsprings as he sits next to him. I open the door and following him in. My blond friend is a weeping bundle on the bed, and I'm suddenly reminded horribly of an another time he was like his. Back in France.

"Naruto." I sit on his other side, opposite Itachi. We sit in silence for a good ten minutes until Naruto's sniffles abate, and Itachi gets up to make us all a hot chocolate.

When he comes back, Naruto accepts him mug quietly, a small smile appearing on his face as he sips at it, and gets a cream moustache across his top lip. Itachi laughs and scrounges in his pocket for a tissue to hand him, but Naruto grins and licks it off again. He looks puzzled when Itachi keeps holding out the tissue.

"You've got it on your nose too" He grins and Naruto tries to lick it off his nose, eventually failing miserably, and accepting the tissue, amid rapturous laughter. He rubs at his eyes with the tissue too.

"Sorry." He says when we all finish laughing hysterically "It's just the last thing Laila did before she died was... well... she took me to have my hair cut... and... she said the same thing... about me needing one... and... I'm sorry." He buries his head in his knees again, and Itachi and I sigh simultaneously, with half-relief and half-worry.

"Don't apologise, Naruto." Itachi smiles and fits a DVD into the player. "It's ok".

That night we watched funny movies and laughed ourselves silly until Naruto fell asleep between us.

**...**

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**A/N: *Chomps on Jammie Dodger* recurring motif of food in this story? No, surely not! :3**

**Awwwh, Naru-chan! :3 **

**Did we like? Drop me a review if you did! Motivate me to go and write some more! XD xxx**


	20. Chapter 19

Nineteen

"Naruto!"

The blond boy looked up from his desk to where his pink-haired friend was waving at him. She's standing in the doorway, with Kiba. Class just finished, and they're trying to make a quick exit.

"We'll be there in a minute, Sakura-chan" He calls and waves back. I notice how he included me in that statement, as a grin spreads its way across his face and his blond hair is rumpled into further disarray by a casual sweep of his hand on his head. The spikes had been cropped short, but only because Naruto had insisted on doing it himself. Just in case.

He gets up from his desk and goes to meet her. She makes a joke I don't hear, and but Ino does and walks over. The girls erupt in fits of giggles, and Naruto grins alongside them. They drag me along and we sit outside on the grass. It's such a lovely day, sun shining, birds singing, Kiba demolishing a cheese sandwich with his bare teeth. I sigh and shake my head as Naruto slurps his instant ramen.

"Baka's" I grin. Naruto makes a sound that may or may not have been 'teme' through a mouthful of noodles. Kiba laughs and gives his shoulder a shove. I freeze for a second, but relax again as Naruto gives him a good hearty push in return, sending them both sprawling on the grass.

Their laughter rings high and clear into the blue, blue sky.

A man with long, dark hair and shiny golden eyes watches them, and a frown crumples his face.

**...**

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**A/N: Super-short chapter attack! :O**


	21. Chapter 20

Twenty

He waited until dark before calling Kai.

He had to do something about the boy. Before he talked.

And it was only a matter of time. He knew his position was in jeopardy. He couldn't keep Kakashi quiet for much longer, and with evidence from the boy, Orochimaru knew he'd be exposed. But without the evidence from the boy, there would be nothing Kakashi, or anyone, could do. The boy was living with two police officers. He knew he would talk, if left. Kabuto had links with the police, and informed him the boy was to make another statement, this one about the... incident that he'd been... involved in.

He would have to do something about the boy.

Before he talked.

He would have to... dispose of him.

The phone rang four times, private number, a new phone, provided by Orochimaru himself, before a gruff voice at the end of the line murmurs:

"'Allo?"

"Kai?" He had to check.

"Yeah, s'hat you 'Rochimaru?"

As Kai pressed his ear to the receiver he was met with cold, unyielding laugher.

"We need to something about that boy."

"We do?"

Orochimaru sighed; Kai really wasn't playing with a full deck.

"Of course we do." He snorted impatiently "He'll tell them where you are Kai." As far as Orochimaru knew, the boy had no idea where his foster father was "You don't want to go to prison, do you?"

"No. For fucks sake, no."

"Then we'll have to... dispose of him" Orochimaru grinned. The 'we' part, he decided, meant only Kai. Orochimaru was a background man. The man running things. In charge. Schemes and plotting – check. Doing the dirty work himself – not likely.

"What we gonna do?" The idiot asked.

"We are going to sort out our little... problem, once and for all."

**...**

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**A/N: DUN DUN DUUUUN! :O**

**Another really short chapter! Sorries! Will have to write more! :D**

**Thanks for reading! If you like it, drop me a review! :D xxx**


	22. Chapter 21

Twenty One

_How long was this lesson going to take?_

Naruto groaned into the wood of his desk. His forehead pressed to the hard, unyielding timber. Suddenly, a sharp pain jolted through his ear and he sat bolt upright.

"Ow!"

The whole class turned in their seats to stare at him. A few of them snickered. Kakashi-sensei raised his one visible eyebrow at him.

"Is there something you'd like to share with us all, Naruto-kun?"

"No." The poor boy's face had gone a bright red. I grinned.

"Oi, dobe" I whisper, as Kakashi-sensei goes back to discussing the book list for our latest assignment. I lean over in my chair to face the full force of his scowl.

"What did you flick me on the ear for? Teme!" He hissed back.

"I can't let you fall asleep now can I? You've wake up to find the wood ingrained onto your forehead or something, idiot."

"Teme!" He declared again, for lack of better insult, then Sakura lightly bops him on the head, and he shuts up promptly. He didn't need Sakura to tell him twice; the second time she tended to be less... gentle. She flutters her eyelashes at me, and I roll my eyes at Naruto. He chuckles none-too-subtly behind his hand, and is rewarded with a bash on the head from the pink-haired menace.

I dip my head to hide my smirk.

Kakashi-sensei finishes giving us our assignments, and adds an extra study text to the list, before the bell rings and our mask-wearing English teacher sticks his nose back into his little orange book and waves dismissively at us. There's a clamour as we all pack up our stuff and scrape our chairs under our desks as we stand. An exited chatter starts up, its lunchtime, and Kiba hands Naruto a cup ramen, taking out one of his own at the same time. The one I'd brought for Naruto alongside my own lunch in my bag suddenly feels heavier, as he accepts the food from Kiba and they race towards the canteen for hot water. They return, both clutching the cups and slurping their noodles, to walk out with Sakura and Ino towards their outside spot. Naruto waves for me to follow them.

So I do.

"Sasuke!" – And he's there, bubbly, laughing and wonderfully crazy all through lunch. Just being good old happy, vibrant, awfully orange, Naruto. The way he should be. The way he was before everything. He was on the mend. For good, I hoped. I grin and tuck into my sandwiches, and decided that I'd miss our late night hot chocolates. _Maybe we could have them all the same? Did we need an excuse?_ We're joined by Shino, Shikamaru and Temari – all in the year above, but Shikamaru's good friends with Kiba, and apparently Ino knows Temari through a 'blond's united' club they both attend, which they were currently trying to coheres Naruto into joining. After he laughed them off, he struck up a rather one-sided conversation with the stoic Shino and erupted into gales of laughter over something he'd said himself about frogs or toads or somesuch.

The ramen I'd meant to give to Naruto felt like it was burning a hole in the bottom of my bag.

I didn't know why it bothered me so much. It probably shouldn't. I scowled and tried to shrug the feeling off, but it was only intensified when Naruto tackled me to 'get that depressed look off my ugly mug'.

Naruto's friend Neji comes with a girl named Tenten who Sakura and Ino shared a room with in France, and they drags Temari and Shino off to help out with some project or other they were working on. Naruto then joins Shikamaru on the grass, and they stare up at the sky until Naruto gets bored and starts doing handstands. After his fifth tumble, I get up, brushing off my knees, and offer to hold his legs for him.

But only so he doesn't kill himself of anything.

He kicks me in the shoulder twice, but eventually we get him to do a proper handstand for a few seconds, that then wobbled dramatically, and he tumbled to the ground, taking me with him. When we untangle ourselves, Sakura insists on showing him how it's done, and she and Ino get into a heated competition over who can do the best handstand. I laugh, and perform one that obviously beats them all. I try not to look _too _smug as Naruto gapes at me, and begs me to teach him, though from his mutter of 'smug bastard' I gather I wasn't too successful at looking passive.

We spend another half an hour fooling around on the grass like we did when we were little kids, and Naruto nearly decapitates Ino with a spectacularly bad cartwheel.

The bell rings and we totter back to class. Grins all round.

I put a hand into my rucksack to take out a pen for the next lesson, and my fingers brush the uneaten pot of ramen. My smile drops a bit.

**...**

**...**

**A/N: Awh Sasu-chan :3 xxx**


	23. Chapter 22

Twenty Two

_CRASH._

I cursed loudly at the idiot who'd tripped me, sending me sprawling on the floor of the corridor; making the contents of my bag spill out, and roll haphazardly across the ground. The bell clamoured loudly to signal the end of the day somewhere above me. The corridor would be full soon, I'd hoped to get away quickly when we'd been let out early, but I'd had to go find the idiot, who'd had Geography, before I could. I groaned; then winced in pain. I'd fallen on some of the items from my bag, and there was a wonderful pair of compasses poking into my midriff, just above my hip. I heave myself up onto my arms, and scowl at my attacker.

Jirōbō.

One of the school bullies, huge and overbearing, glaring down at me.

_Great. Could this day get any worse?_

"Sasuke!"

I groan. I'd know that voice anywhere.

"Sasuke? Are you ok? Anything hurt? Broken? Bruised?" His hands are on my back, my shoulders. Voices are filling the corridor.

"Just my pride." I growl, pulling myself up, taking the hand he offers me only when I sway on my feet. People glance at us as they walk past, avoiding the spillage from my bag all over the floor.

"Naruto? Right?" Jirōbō glowers at him. In a sudden fierce moment of protectiveness, I narrow my eyes, and snarl;

"Leave him alone."

Naruto shakes his head and lays a hand on my arm, together, we turn to go.

"You ferg't yer stuff" Jirōbō catches my arm in an iron grip, and pulls me around so I see as he stamps down angrily on a few of my belongings. The ramen cup, colourful and bright in a sea of navy and grey, is a prime target. A knot forms and tightens in my chest. White noodles crack and tumble out split side of the compressed plastic pot and onto the floor. Jirōbō laughs and stalks away.

"Big bully" hisses Naruto beside me, and bends down to help my gather up my things. His fingers linger on the ramen cup, as he dusts off and scoops its contents back in.

"You don't like ramen" he says, still holding the cup with a curious expression on his face, as he helps me pack my other belongings into my bag. I scowl at the compasses.

"It was supposed to be your lunch" I reluctantly admit, but the dazzling smile he shoots he was worth every second of embarrassment.

He holds onto the ramen cup all the way home, and when we get in, he puts the kettle on to heat some water. He finds a little plastic beaker, and tips the crushed contents of the pot into it, then pours on the water.

He has to wait three minutes for it to cook, but the smile on his face as he eats is worth a million of the smile he wore when eating with Kiba.

**...**

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**A/N: Awh, cute little chapter right? :3**

**Reviews if you liked please! Give the little writer-wanna-be some confidence! Or even some constructive criticism! How can I improve? Xxx**

**Thanks for reading so far! :D**

**Oh, and as it's Children in Need today:**

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**────█░░██░░░░█░░█───- Pudsey :D**

**█░░█─▀▄░░░░░░░▄▀─█░░█**

**Have a pudsey! :D xxx  
><strong>


	24. Chapter 23

Twenty three

"Orochimaru-sama?" It was Kabuto, looking expectantly at him. Like a sick puppy. The snake-man found himself shuddering. "How goes our plan?" The grey-haired man was peering up expectantly at him through the circular frames of his glasses.

"My plan", Orochimaru found himself correcting automatically, "is going perfectly. The idiot Kai will take out the boy, and hopefully get himself killed in the process."

"How's Kai going to do this then? And can you be sure we can't be traced?" Kabuto looked sceptical – Orochimaru didn't like that look, it meant his... servant... didn't have faith in his plan.

"I've given the idiot a loaded gun, handed it to him wearing gloves – no fingerprints. And I destroyed the phone I gave him. Nothing to trace him to us. One shot and the boy will be dead. Not that I expect it to only take one. Idiots like him tend to make a... mess."

"Wonderful" And now Kabuto was smiling, simpering, and sucking up to him. Great. He'd have disposed of the man a long time ago, but his abilities in potions, poisons and healing were... useful. Orochimaru allowed his lips to curve slightly upwards. Kabuto shuddered.

"Yes, it is wonderful."

Kabuto took that as his cue to flee.

**...**

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**A/N: Wow... attack of the super short chapter!**

**I do update faster if I write shorter ones... but the next will be longer! :D xxx**


	25. Chapter 24

Twenty Four

"We're home!" I call, only to be met by a sudden, deathly silence.

Naruto shifts nervously next to me.

We'd walked home, like we'd been doing for a week now, as he'd declared loudly to the world last Monday that he 'didn't need a stupid babysitter!' to walk him home. I'd picked up a new video game on the way, and I couldn't wait to try it out. I knew mum would probably make me wait 'till the weekend to open the shiny plastic packaging and start fighting the epic ninjas in the game though.

I call out again, asking if anyone's home. No reply.

Naruto looks up at me with big, blue eyes. He's worried.

...

Kai had been watching.

_Watching and waiting._

_For the boy to be alone._

_Then_, he smiled, _he'd make his move_.

...

"Mum? Dad? Itachi?" I call. Silence.

I exchange another glance with Naruto, and we make our way down the hall, and into the kitchen.

A piece of crisp, white paper lays on the tabletop.

I pick it up, and slowly unfold it. My heart in my mouth. I suddenly felt that horrible, bad feeling again. The one I got when Naruto was in danger last time. When someone I cared about was in danger. _What if...?_

I scan the contents of the letter and find myself... laughing.

"It's ok," I tell Naruto, relived, as he hovers worriedly beside me "They've just gone out to a police gala dinner. It's a fancy thing they usually drag me along to once every couple of months." Naruto smiles and laughs at this. I'm horribly thankful they didn't make us go. I remember the stupid tuxedo I had to wear last time. In _pink_. Naruto looks puzzled as I shiver, then laugh as I remember Itachi's matching purple one. He takes the letter from my hand and reads the rest.

"Pizza's in the freezer. Make sure you do your homework. Oh, and we're out of milk, can we pick some up?"

"Yeah" I laugh, and pull a pizza from the freezer to defrost. I then go to check the fridge – he's right. No milk. I sigh.

"I'll go get the milk if you like?" He offers, looking over my shoulder at the contents of the fridge and I frown.

Then the phone rings. I stare at it.

One of us needs to go and get the milk. And I'd wanted to try out my new video game tonight. I could play after I put the pizza in the oven if Naruto goes. I could get some practice in. Naruto's always really good at ninja games; maybe I could get one up on him by having a go first. My fingers itch to hold the plastic controller. It'd be so much faster if he went. There's a shop just around the corner. Not far at all, and it's not yet dark out. Kai's not even been seen since Naruto came here.

The phone's ringing.

"Yeah, go on then, I'll get the phone." He nods and grins, taking a pound coin from the bureau in the hall.

"I'll be back in ten, Sasuke." And he leaves, slamming the door behind him.

The horrible, bad feeling returns full force.

I pick up the phone receiver.

"Hello?"

**...**

**...**

**A/N: Who is the mysterious caller?**

**Will Naruto ever get the milk?**

**Will I ever remember to drink my cup of tea before it goes cold? No... oopsie... it's gone cold while I was writing this chapter D:**

**Ah well... TO THE MICROWAVE! :D**

***Does amazing super-hero pose and magically flies downstairs (hey, I was totally born on Krypton)* :D**

***Returns with hot cup of tea***

**All good! :D**


	26. Chapter 25

Chapter Twenty Five

The shop's just up the street and round the corner. A little off licence at the junction of two roads. Naruto walked the normal way, up the street and to the shop. A blue and red diode sign flashes 'closed' in bold letters, and a polite notice underneath reads: 'Due to unforeseen circumstances, we have had to close early. We apologise for any inconvenience'. Naruto gave a loud sigh. He knows there's a post office that sells general goods further up the main road, nearer where Kiba lived.

It takes him a moment to decide. He probably shouldn't go back without the milk, but he knows he'll be late if he walks all the way up to the post office and back. Unless he takes the short cut.

Past his old house.

Naruto sighed loudly. He didn't need a babysitter to keep an eye on him. He felt sick of being watched all the time, having to tell someone where he was going. It was weird. Different. He felt restricted and annoyed and he just wanted to do something on his own terms for once.

But Sasuke would worry if he wasn't back in five minutes.

He digs his phone out of his pocket, intending to tell his raven-haired friend where he's going, but the battery's dead.

He'd forgotten to charge it.

Typical.

It was only four blocks to the post office. A fifteen minute walk. Ten if he goes past his old house. And he wanted milk in his hot chocolate when he got back. With a sigh, Naruto resigned himself to his fate. He might as well walk to the post office.

What could possibly be the harm in that?

...

"...I'll be coming round on Wednesday to fix your broken window..."

"No, sorry, I think you've got the wrong number" I sigh impatiently "We don't have a broken window." I don't recognise the voice on the other end of the line, but whoever they are must be stupid. I've told them that about four times already.

"Is your Mum in son? You're Dad? Someone I could talk to? Your big brother perhaps?" The voice was annoying and patronising. A little voice in the back of my head questioned how this person knew I had a brother.

"No, it's just me, I'm home alone at the moment; so you'll just have to talk to me, and I'm telling you we don't..."

The line goes dead, a buzzing of white noise, but just before it does I hear faintly the voice whisper to another person; "He's there all by himself, the boy's gone out; Kai can make his move."

My eyes widen, my breath catches in my throat and I stare at the receiver in my hand. The low buzz of the ended call tone ringing in my ears. I felt sick.

Naruto was in danger.

**...**

**...**

**A/N: More cliff hangers! Sorry about that... it's habitual I guess. :3**

**I'd greatly appreciate it if you could drop me a review to tell me what you thought of this chappie!**

**Thanks for reading!**

**xxx**


	27. Chapter 26

Chapter Twenty Six

Naruto walked the first two blocks towards the post office in record time – it only took him five minutes. He turned into an alleyway on the right, the one that would lead him up towards his old street.

Unaware he was being followed.

...

I ring his phone first, and it goes straight to answer machine. The battery must be flat. I roll my eyes – he must have forgotten to charge it again, because he always has it on otherwise.

My heart pounds in my chest as I grab my jacket as dash out the door – locking it behind me and hurriedly stuffing my keys in my pocket with my mobile.

I run to the off licence on the corner of the street.

A big, glowing sign reads: 'closed'.

And there was no sign of Naruto.

...

Orochimaru stared coldly at the body of the man he'd just killed. The idiot had messed up big-time. Sasuke was onto them.

He'd chosen one of his followers at random – a voice Sasuke wouldn't know to play the part of an innocent window-repairer.

And he'd spoken to Orochimaru while Sasuke could hear him - before he'd hung up.

And if Sasuke was onto them, the whole plan was jeopardised.

He'd have to call the attack off. He couldn't have the idiot Kai getting caught by the police. He'd probably talk.

It was then Orochimaru realised his potentially fatal mistake – he'd destroyed Kai's phone.

He had no way of calling the attack off.

...

I tried and tried to rack my brain for an answer – where had Naruto gone? It was getting dark outside.

Where could he have gone?

What if he was kidnapped?

Should I ring the police? Itachi?

Or he could just have gone up to the next shop to get the milk. I reasoned. The post office most likely. It was a few blocks away. Fifteen minutes walk.

But the suspicious phone call weighted heavily on my mind. I began walking towards the post office, phone clutched tightly in my hand.

I just hoped I'd get there in time.

...

Naruto turned the corner, his old house swimming into view.

Memories tumbled through his brain like snowflakes, blurring together into a white mush.

He felt a bit sick.

The blond found himself taking a deep breath to steady himself. It was ok. Kai was gone. He could do this.

He could do this.

He let his legs carry him past the building, now shrouded in shadow as the sun was dipping dangerously low in the sky and the moon had begun to show its pale face. The light of the sunset stained the world with deep, bloody red hue that sent chills up my spine, the light streaked with lines of orange fire. It reflected off the pale walls of the building, giving it a raw burning look. Naruto found his limbs slowing as he walked past it; they felt sluggish and heavy; as if weighted down and filled with lead. His breathing was faster than usual, and his chest ached with the memories of the place he'd once called home.

Then he was past it, walking away towards the little alleyway at the end of the street, the one that led out onto the next road, where the post office was.

He was nearly there.

It was ok.

A dark, shadowed figure leaned against the wall up ahead.

It was ok.

Naruto would just keep walking, ignore them, and walk past.

But then the figure stood, and faced him, his features cast in shadow, and Naruto froze as he saw the tell-tale silhouette of a gun in the man's hand.

The man took a step towards him, and Naruto choked on his fear, for standing before him, illuminated by the blood red light of the sunset...

was Kai.

...

I stop, panting and look round.

I'm at the Post Office, and there's no sign of Naruto.

Where on Earth could he have gone?

I look around, searching for some sign, any sign, of his whereabouts. Old man Sarutobi crosses the road further up the street, his grandson trailing behind him and laughing over some joke the old codger just told him. A cat yowls in someone's yard. The lights of the Post Office are bright and white against the orange glow from the sun.

Then I notice the alleyway to the left of me, one I've seen hundreds of times but I've never been down. I think it leads down to Naruto's old road, and comes out nearer my house. It would prove to be a good shortcut. But the alley is dark and shadowed by trees in the dimming light of the sunset, and the lamps at the end are starting to flicker into life with the ones that lined the road I stood on.

Night was falling.

I looked at the alley again. Naruto wouldn't go down their right? Even if it was faster? Could he cope with seeing his old house?

I look around again, still so sign of my friend.

It takes me another moment to decide, and then I'm off, walking up the alleyway, towards Naruto's house. It's as I round the corner, leaving the reassuring light of the street lamp behind me, that I see the figure, silhouetted against the lights from Naruto's old street in front of me.

The figure is a man, tall and bulky, and holding a gun.

Another figure, a boy, smaller in stature and shaking like a leaf, stands frozen to the spot before the man.

The man is Kai.

The boy is Naruto.

And Kai raises the gun.

**...**

**...**

**A/N: Hurrah! A longer chapter! And yet another annoying cliff-hanger (Lenle likes those a bit too much)! *evil laugh* :D**

**Poor Naru-chan. Bad Kai! *gets out the big stick again and starts sharpening the end*.**


	28. Chapter 27

Chapter Twenty Seven

"No!" I scream, rushing towards the man in a moment of sheer stupidity. He whirls round, and fires the gun.

The bullet glances off the concrete beside me with a sharp ping. He's swaying, terribly drunk and it's affecting his aim.

"Naruto!" - My friend's knees gave under him at the sound of the shot. His eyes were wide, fear-filled, trapped in memories rather than the present. His breath coming in quick gasps. Almost hyperventilating. A short sob escapes his throat. He's shaking all over.

Seeing his shot did not work, Kai lifts the gun again to fire the next one; but finds the cartridge is jammed. He takes it out and shoves it back in with a curse, making the gun emit an ominous click. It was ready to fire.

My heart thrashes wildly in my ribcage.

Because it's pointed towards me.

But instead of using it, Kai lashes out with one fist; it smashes into the side of my face and I go down like a tonne of bricks, crashing into the concrete. Pain radiates up my side and from my head where I hit the floor, and my vision goes fuzzy, turning the world into a hazy blur. The beginnings of a headache pound in my skull. I vaguely feel someone's hand wrap around my arm in an iron grip and being bodily dragged into a sitting position. I'm leaning against something. Rough hands are on my wrists.

I shake my head to clear it, and realise I've been tied up. I'm leaning against a brick wall. My arms are fixed behind my back by a length of thick rope from God knows where.

Kai towers over me. A look of contempt on his face.

"I'll deal with you in a minute." he snarls. Then a rough shove sends the man toppling sideways.

"Sasuke!" It's Naruto, his face pale as he extends a hand towards me, desperate and fearful.

Then Naruto is falling, Kai has tackled his legs, and he pins the boy to the ground with a snarl.

"You little shit! Look at what you've fucking done to my life!"

"Your life?"

And then he's hitting Naruto, and the blond is crying out in fear and pain.

I wrench my hands round from behind me, still tied together by the length of rope. It bites into my wrists, leaving them raw and red. My head pounds and my left shoulder screams in agony as I try to fish my mobile from my right pocket. Success. I fumble with it for a few short moments then flick it open, urgently stabbing my index finger down on the '9' key three times – calling the police.

Kai looks up. He's seen the little glowing light of the phone. His expression is filled with pure anger coupled with lashings of something terribly akin to fear.

"Police!" I shout into the receiver on the ground below me. "He's got a gun!" Someone at the other end says something I don't hear. "We're at the entrance to the alleyway on Fifth Street." I all but scream before Kai's fist cracks across the side of my face. "Sasuke Uchiha." I manage to gasp out before Kai stamps down hard on my phone – crushing it. Jagged pieces of shiny plastic and smooth mechanics shatter apart and spin across the concrete.

"You little..." begins Kai, raising his fist, but something thumps him hard on the back. The blond boy staggers a step away in horror as Kai turns to face him, unaffected by the blow.

"No!" I shout. "Run Naruto!"

But there was no time. His eyes locked with mine, and I knew in my heart Naruto would never just leave me here anyway.

Kai raises his hand towards his would-be foster son – the gun clutched firmly in it.

His finger on the trigger.

**...**

**...**

**A/N: Evil, evil Kai! D:**

**Will Naruto get shot?**

**Will Sasuke be able to save him?**

**Will the police arrive in time?**

**Will I ever stop torturing you with evil cliff-hangers...?**

**No, probably not.**

**:D**


	29. Chapter 28

Chapter Twenty Eight

"Naruto!"

The first gunshot had ripped its way through his shoulder. The second into his thigh and the third into his stomach. His screams echoed around the small alleyway as he staggered backwards, fighting to stay upright.

"Naruto! Oh my god! Naruto! Wake up. Please wake up!"

The forth and last shot had been at point blank range. Into his chest. I watched as if in slow motion as the small body of my blond best friend had crumpled to the ground.

"Naruto!"

I'd watched as the blood pooled around the limp form. Kai stood over the fallen figure of my friend... and laughed.

Laughed.

Siren's now. The police had got my call. I tugged viciously against the ropes that held my arms up in place. They cut into my wrists, leaving them raw and red. The man, Naruto's would-be foster father, turned so he was facing me, a horrible smile on his face. He walked towards me, got close enough so that I could smell the alcohol on his breath. He pointed the gun, eyes manically wide, laughing.

Blue flashy lights. The slamming of doors. The man's finger pulled the trigger. I squeezed my eyes tightly closed, waiting for the impact. It never came. With a loud bang, the bullet had glanced harmlessly off the brick wall behind me. Footsteps. Running. Kai re-loaded his gun with a shrug and a manic grin, poising it ready to fire.

His finger began to squeeze the trigger.

Bam.

He was tackled to the ground by a black blur. Crack. He was punched. Crack. And again.

"How dare you point a gun at my brother!"

Itachi. It was Itachi. My heart filled with hope.

"Aniki!" I cried out "Naruto! Naruto... he..." my voice ran dry, cracking, tears spilled unbidden from my cheeks. I could see Naruto's limp body in the pale street light. He was just lying there. Kisame, one of Itachi's partners grabbed Kai, who was too confused from the blow to the head to resist, handcuffed him and quickly bundled him into the back of the police car. Itachi's other partner, Deidara, was by my side, cutting though the ropes that held my arms behind my back.

He was saying something to me, his hand on my shoulder. I don't know what it was. I couldn't think.

Naruto was just lying there. Itachi by his side. Blood. There was so much blood. Crimson in the weak light. My brother gently rolled him over, pressing his jacket to the wound on his chest in an attempt to staunch the bleeding.

"My god. Deidara! Call an ambulance! Quickly! Naruto? Naruto can you hear me? Naruto?" He carefully shook the blond by his shoulders. No response. Not even a flicker. "Naruto!" He tilted the boy's head back, urging his mouth to fall open. Deidara was on the phone, telling the person on the other end names and locations. Kisame was in the car keeping an eye on the man. Itachi hovered his cheek over Naruto's lips. "He's not breathing!" he called out to the blond on the phone who relayed the information over. Itachi pressed two fingers to the side of the boy's neck, and breathed a loud sigh of temporary relief. "He's got a heartbeat. It's weak but it's there... Sasuke" I was at my brother's side, my worried, pale face close to Naruto's.

"What can I do?" I asked, voice shaking, hands trembling as they reached out to touch the ghostly white face of my best friend. Itachi stared at me for a second then:

"I'll support his head; we need to get him to breathe. Can you..." I nodded in response, knowing what to do. We'd been taught CPR in school. I remembered Naruto grumbling about how boring it was, I had told him to pay attention, as one day you might just need it to save someone's life. Someone's life. Itachi cupped his hands under Naruto's head, and swore. "Shit. Sasuke, he must have hit his head pretty hard, it's bleeding" I found a low growl ripping from my throat. I tilted Naruto's neck back slightly to further open his mouth, allowing Itachi to slide his hand forward slightly to support it while keeping the other pressed to the bloody jacket attempting to stop the bleeding on his chest. I pinched the blond's nose and took a deep breath, then pushed my lips down to form a seal over Naruto's parted ones, forcing the air out from my lungs into Naruto's. I pulled up again for another breath of my own after I saw Naruto's chest rise, and I watched it fall as I moved away.

"That's it ototo, keep doing that." So I did it again. Deidara called to us from over by the police car. The ambulance would be here soon. Soon. I took another breath, and breathed into Naruto. And again, and again. Over and over. Suddenly, there was a weak splutter from beneath me, and my mouth was filled with a coppery taste. Blood. I swore then. I looked desperately into Naruto's mouth to see the sticky crimson substance pooling at the back of his throat, sliding back down it. He was choking on it. "I think one of his lungs is damaged. If he's coughing up blood like that" Itachi's face was nearly as pale as Naruto's now "Sasuke... I don't think he'll make it."

"No!" I couldn't let that happen. I couldn't lose Naruto. Not him. Of all people, not Naruto. He was my best friend. Suddenly; I wondered if he knew that. I needed to tell him. I needed him. I pressed my lips over Naruto's again, breathing desperately into him, struggling to keep him alive. Deidara was over here now. He pressed his fingers to Naruto's wrist.

"His pulse is really weak, yeah." He rubbed at the bridge of his nose. "The ambulance will be here in a minute, keep going Sasuke."

I nodded and pressed my lips to Naruto's. His chest rose the fell. Rise, fall. Rise, fall. Rise, fall.

"Come on Naruto! Breathe!"

"I've lost his pulse!" Deidara cried out.

"Oh no! You're not dying on me yet Uzumaki! Wake up dobe!" Breathe in, out, Rise, Fall. Rise, Fall. Rise, Fall.

"Should we do chest compressions? What about the wounds... we could make them worse... I..."

A blaring siren cut Deidara off. Flashy blue lights. Footsteps running.

It was all a blur to me.

Someone had gently taken my shoulders and moved me out of the way as the three men in the ambulance crew knelt around Naruto. Itachi was talking to one of the men, who nodded solemnly to everything he said, writing notes on a clipboard. The other two had a defibrillator out. A tube was placed in Naruto's mouth to make him breathe. They were doing something to his chest, sorting out his damaged lung, Sasuke supposed. Naruto was being placed on a stretcher now. Being wheeled into the ambulance. I let out a shaky breath I hadn't realised I was holding.

"I'm going with him" It was Itachi, his hand on my shoulder "as he's been staying with us I think that's only right. Sasuke, I want you to go to the police station with Deidara and Kisame. I'll come and pick you up and take you to the hospital from there. Ok?" I just nodded weakly, and I found myself being pulled into a hug. "He'll be alright." I nodded again and Itachi moved away and got into the ambulance. More flashy blue and I was left behind.

**...**

**...**

**A/N: Oh I'm so mean! Poor Naruto! xxx**

***Get's that dam stick out, ties a brick to the end and starts bashing Kai with it* **

**This chapter look at all familiar to anyone? If not... go check the prologue again! XD  
><strong>


	30. Chapter 29

Chapter Twenty Nine

I found myself rubbing at my eyes. I was tired. Beyond belief.

I'd got a lift to the station with the two other officers, only to listen to the demented cackles of Kai all the way. He was laughing, crowing about how he 'killed the brat' and how great it is that 'finally he's dead'. It looked like he wasn't just talking a toll on my nerves and patience, as both Deidara and Kisame had already threatened to knock him out more than once.

And now I was sitting in the station, having seen Kai be put behind bars in the over-night lock-up. I sat with a blanket draped round my shoulders and an empty mug that had contained a bitter tasting hot chocolate a couple of hours ago. I felt sick thinking about hot chocolate. It just reminded me of our late night hot chocolate sessions. It was the thing we did; I had mine bitter and Naruto always had his horribly sweet. I chuckled quietly at a sudden memory that popped into my head; it was one when we had been in the kitchen of the Uchiha house and I remember asking Naruto if he'd 'like any hot chocolate with his sugar and squirty cream?'

Naruto. I clenched my fists. I was just sitting here, waiting for Itachi, and _Naruto could be... Naruto could be..._

"Sasuke!" I leapt to my feet at the call of my name, setting down my empty mug. Itachi stood there, his face pale and drawn.

"How is he?" I demanded, my eyes searching Itachi's face for clues. "Aniki! How is he?" My brother silently drew me in for a long hug. _Oh no. Oh no, no, no... Naruto wasn't... he couldn't be... Not him... he couldn't..._

"Sasuke" His voice was barely above a whisper. My breath caught in my throat. _Oh no._ "He's... he's in bad shape. I... oh Sasuke. It was horrible." He drew me closer to him. "There was so much blood... He was coughing it up... and... The last shot ruptured his lung, they don't know if he'll ever use his right arm again, the shot fractured the bone... and..." He rubbed his eyes tiredly; there was so much to list that he just couldn't do it. "I don't know if he'll make it."

"We need to be there. By his side. Can we... Aniki please. I need to be with him." I could feel my whole frame shaking like a leaf in his strong arms. Itachi nodded once in understanding.

"Yeah. We can catch a taxi, like I did to get here. Tsunade said family can visit, and she classified us as that."

"Tsunade? She's there?" Tsunade was their family doctor; Sasuke had known her since he was little.

"Yeah. He's in the best of hands, Otouto."

**...**

**...**

**A/N: Attack of the really short chapter! :S**


	31. Chapter 30

Chapter Thirty

We'd got the taxi, like Itachi had suggested and stopped at reception to ask the bored-looking secretary where Naruto would be. Then we were following a timid-looking nurse with long, dark hair, and pale eyes, called Hinata up to the room she said Naruto was currently staying in. My breath caught when we entered the intensive care unit.

"Itachi, Sasuke." I looked up to see Tsunade walking out of a room and towards us. As Itachi explained Naruto's circumstances to her, she reached across and tiredly ruffled the dark spikes of my hair, like she used to do when I was little, and smiled slightly. "He's stable, for now. You can go in and see him. Hinata..." she addressed the pale-eyed nurse "...stay in there with him until I get back, you're covering as his nurse now, take his stats every five minutes, if there are any irregularities call me immediately." Hinata nodded meekly and smiled.

Itachi and I followed her into the room. I took one look at the little form on the single, white bed surrounded by machines and wires, and I found I couldn't breathe. After taking one shuddering gasp of air to refill my lungs. I made a single shaky step forward. Naruto just looked so... tiny. He lay perfectly still on his back. Eyes closed. Skin horribly pale. A breathing mask taped over his nose and mouth. Tubes and wires winding their way into his skin. An IV drip in his arm. Another tube; 'something to counteract blood loss' according to Hinata, wound its way next to it. A machine bleeped in time to his weak heartbeats and a red line wiggled on a screen. Numbers flashed on it, and Hinata jotted a few down on a clipboard. He looked so pale, the white of the sheets blending with the white of his skin. His golden hair seemed to have dulled a few shades and a white bandage cut through it as it twisted itself around his head. His shoulder was also securely bandaged, and the sheets prevented me from making any closer observation on his other wounds. He looked so small and frail. Not at all like the strong boisterous boy I'd been beginning to see again in the past few weeks. It was not how Naruto should look. He should be laughing at a stupid joke, or grinning obscenely as he beat me at yet another ninja game, or something, anything, but this.

"Naruto" my knees gave out and I flopped gracelessly into the chair by the bed. I reached out to touch him, he just looked so tiny, pale and fragile – like fine china, but I was stopped by a hand on his shoulder and the shake of Hinata's head.

Itachi pulled up a chair next to me, and slid his arm around my shoulders. We sat vigil all night.

**...**

**...**

**A/N: Ok, so everything I know about hospitals has been learnt from reading other fanfictions. If I've made something crazy up, it'd probably be best to just go with it. XD**


	32. Chapter 31

Chapter Thirty One

It had been three heart-wrenching weeks. Naruto had been in a coma since he was brought to the hospital all that time ago. His wounds were healing quickly, much better than a usual patient, but he refused to wake up. I found myself visiting and sitting by his side every day, at every chance. Naruto's other friends from school dropped in from time to time. Kiba had been there nearly every day, like a puppy looking over its master, and he'd started dating the young pretty nurse called Hinata who cared for Naruto. They were there now, bothering me. Kiba was fawning over her, as she tried to check Naruto's stats. She laughed at something he said, and he asked her out to lunch. They were being so loud. So annoying. My grip on Naruto's hand tightened, and I grit my teeth, and I was about to tell them to 'shut the hell up' when;

"Ow..." the voice was thick with drugs, but cracked and weak. I looked up, dark eyes meeting hazy blue and...

"Naruto!" I dropped the boy's hand which I'd been unconsciously crushing and hovered over him, so I could be seen from where the boy lay. Kiba and Hinata had fallen deadly quiet save for the sudden scribbling of a pen on the clipboard. "Hey, how do you feel?" I gently wiped a stray strand of straggly blond hair from those cloudy blue eyes.

"S'kay" he smiled slightly, his lips as dry and cracked from lack of use as his voice was. Then his expression was clouded by fear "Kai" he choked out, eyes wide and terrified.

"It's ok Naruto" I spoke softly to him, and found my fingers absentmindedly stroking my friend's forehead. "You're safe." My other hand found Naruto's again "Kai's gone. He won't hurt you anymore." _I won't let him hurt you anymore._

"Y'u 'kay?" He murmured; his sleepy blue eyes big and worried. The drugs being pumped into him kept the shadow of pain in them at bay.

"Me? I'm fine. But... I thought I'd lost you! You know... you wouldn't wake up, and I... I..." I had to tell him. "You're my best friend Naruto! Do you have any idea how worried I was!"

"B'st frend?" he coughed painfully, his dry throat rebelling against speech.

"Yeah. Yeah, Naruto, you're my best friend"

"Gud, 'cos your..." Cough. Cough. "mine, y'kno'."

"Naru..." I found my face split by the first true smile since the incident, and I continued gently stroking the boy's warm forehead as he drifted back off to sleep.

**...**

**...**

**A/N: This chapter's so fluffy! :O**

**And so short! *goes off to write a longer, more doomy, chapter***

**Thanks for reading so far! :D**


	33. Chapter 32

Chapter Thirty Two

"Naruto."

The boy grinned at her as she walked in.

"Tsunade Baa-chan!"

"Disrespectful brat!" She grinned and lightly clipped him over the ear as he used his old childhood nickname for her. "How you feeling?"

Apparently, Tsunade had treated Naruto since he was a baby. They'd had time to become fully reacquainted again, and Sasuke was thankful for her cheery attitude towards his friend. She'd known his real parents since they were young. Tsunade spoke gently to him about them. Kushina, his mother, who'd died in childbirth, and Minato, his father, who'd died in a car accident; when the car in front had suddenly swerved, to avoid hitting a fox that had run out into the road, and crashed into Minato's car instead. The fox had run off unscathed. The other driver was unharmed. Minato had lost his life. Little Naruto had been in the car at the time, and his father had apparently pulled him from the wreckage before the petrol caught and the car exploded, and he was killed by his previous injuries and flying debris, while shielding his son with his body.

Tsunade told him stories of their youth, when they were happy and free and madly in love with each other. They sounded like good people. Tsunade said she had carried on treating him right up until the death of his foster mother, Laila. She'd lightly recounted to us one of the times she patched him up, after he'd tumbled off his skateboard at the top of a rail, and broken his leg in the fall. Naruto had laughed and said he remembered her telling him off for being so reckless. That was when she'd given him the little green necklace that still hung around his neck today. She then told me how she'd lost all contact with the family after his foster mother's death. He'd been such a cheerful little boy, she'd said.

"I'm good" He replied to her question and smiled; his face covered with a mask that made him out to be so brave and strong. Inside, in the light of his eyes, I could see his terror, his fear. His pain.

My hand found its way onto his left arm in comfort. His right arm hung in a sling. Tsunade had smiled as she told him the shot to his shoulder would heal perfectly with time, and the weakened muscles would repair themselves with the right exercises. He would be able to move it again eventually, unlike as was first feared. He was sat upright, but could barely move, the shots of his chest and stomach making sure of that. White bandages poked out from under his hospital gown to show for them.

The shots to his thigh and stomach had been mercifully shallow, though his chest had been badly damaged, along with one of his lungs, wrecking his breathing pattern. The bandage round his head protected his head wound, and comically affected the flow of his short blond spikes so that they stuck up at even more random angles than usual. Dark circles blossomed under his eyes, and Itachi had joked with him about his resemblance to a panda the last time he'd visited.

Naruto was terribly pale, a far cry from his usual soft tan, and the skin was littered with harsh purple bruises and small red scrapes that stood out as little vivid lines on the pasty white flesh. His whole frame was so awfully thin and fragile. The one hand clasped in mine felt soft and frail, the skin papery, and the bones in his fingers shifting to lightly clasp my hand back. Each one was slender and bony, cool against my warm hands, like that of a skeleton.

His breathing was raspy and pained from the damage to his lung and from having the breathing tube in his throat. He struggled with talking when he was tired and the sound was raw and grating. When he arrived, and he'd fallen into a coma; even Tsunade had been unsure if he'd ever wake up again.

But here he was, defying all odds.

As only Naruto could do.

I silently cursed Kai. The man was in prison now. Facing a life sentence for his cruelty. The man had ranted about how he'd been put up to it, but he refused to say who.

When I heard that from Itachi, I had a horrible feeling that it was be something to do with a certain old Biology teacher of mine. I told Itachi my fears and he agreed. We were to get Naruto to make a statement about events old and new as soon as he was better.

As soon as he was better.

I smiled.

He was chuckling weakly at something Tsunade had said, and doing his best to fix his gin his place. But fatigue seeped in from the corners of his eyes, and the wonderful smile I knew and recognised wasn't the one on his face. His voice sounded choked and raw when he laughed. Tsunade carefully ruffled his hair around his bandages, and fixed another bag of some chemical to his drip.

She then pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead, and told him to be careful, as he looked up at her with those big, tired blue eyes.

When she left, the smile dropped completely from his face.

He turned to me, those sparkling orbs of blue glistening with tears that threatened to overflow.

"Sasuke" He stammers "I can't do this." Then he breaks down in great, gulping sobs that leave his chest heaving and him crying out in pain. I sit on the bed and carefully fold him into my arms.

"It's ok, Naruto" I say over and over again "He's gone, you're safe."

Eventually his sobs quieten to hushed, painful whimpers and his breathing evens out in sleep.

And the guilt of not being able to keep him safe presses down hard and heavy on my own chest.

This felt like all my fault.

I couldn't protect him.

...

He has another nightmare than night, and wakes screaming, in terrible pain.

His eyes wide and unseeing, streaming with tear as I try to tell him it's ok. He's safe. His breathing is erratic. He's trying to reach of for something that isn't there with his left hand stretching towards the ceiling.

"Your safe, Naruto, its ok." I don't know what to do. My heart is pounding loudly in my ears and fear bubbles cold and cruel in my heart.

He struggles wildly, causing him to cry out, and Tsunade comes rushing in. She takes one look at the fragile blond boy thrashing uncontrollably on the bed and inserts a needle full of liquid carefully into his IV. He goes still and limp, his breathing evens out.

"It's ok" I stroke his face, his forehead, reassuring him, even though he cannot hear me.

"I've just given him a chemical that'll send him into a dreamless sleep-like state. Watch over him, Sasuke." Tsunade draws me in for a brief hug. She checks his stats, and injects more chemicals into his IV drip.

Naruto does not so much as whimper in his drugged sleep.

"I'm sorry" I whisper and rest my cheek against his. "I'm so, so, sorry."

It feels like all my fault.

**...**

**...**

**A/N: Well that just about covers up Tsunade's random appearance, and gives a nice little splash of doomyness, right? :3**

**Poor Naru-chan, what has this evil writer done to you?**

**In other news: 'Roachimaru's off plotting again :3 xxx**


	34. Chapter 33

Chapter Thirty Three

_Crash._

Orochimaru swept the contents of the desk off onto the floor with one great sweep of his arm. Test tubes and vials filled with colourful liquids crashed to the floor and shattered on impact, leaving the contents to spread and stain into the filthy carpet.

He was angry.

Unbelievably angry.

He'd roared and ranted and destroyed his lab for a good half an hour; screaming at three staff, throwing a conical flask at a student and forcibly removing Kabuto from the room with a fire extinguisher.

He stared at the mess of chemicals and broken glass seeping into the fibres of his carpet and stopped.

_So what if the idiot Kai had failed?_

He could give no evidence against him for fear of his life; Orochimaru had made sure of that, scaring the man witless. No, Kai would not talk.

But the brat would.

He grit his teeth. Oh yes, the boy would talk... unless someone did something to stop him...

_If you want a job doing well,_ the snake-man told himself with a smile, _you do it yourself._

"Get me Kabuto" He hissed into the hall at an unsuspecting passer-by, and waited until the wiry bespectacled man was before him, nursing a bruise on his arm where the extinguisher hit. "Tell me, from all these school laboratory chemicals, can we create some sort of... poison?"

Oh he would stop the boy from talking.

He would stop him once and for all.

...

"How's he doing?"

I look up at Itachi as he speaks, my own eyes tired and ringed by circles almost as dark as the ones that shadow Naruto's expression. I look back down at Naruto as he lies sleeping, small and weak on the bed. His blue eyes firmly closed and his blond hair in disarray. I trace one thin whisker-mark with my little finger.

"I don't know." My own voice cracked on the last word "He had a nightmare last night. Tsunade had to put him to sleep with a drug." I rub tiredly at my face. "I don't know what to do, Aniki."

Itachi takes a moment to survey me; wasting away at my best friend's bedside; pale, thin and exhausted, and he sighs loudly.

"Come on" He takes my arm in a loose grip, and pulls me upright "You've spent too long in this room, Hinata'll watch him" He nods at the kind young nurse and all but drags me from Naruto's side.

He buy's us both a hot chocolate and we sit in silence on a bench out the front of the hospital.

"I'm taking you home" he eventually says, "You're making yourself ill staying here."

"But..." I begin, unsure what I'm going to say, too tired to think of an argument. Waves of exhaustion roll over me.

"I'm taking you home" he repeats "We'll visit again tomorrow, after a good night's sleep. He'll be fine for one night Sasuke."

"I feel like I've failed him. I should have helped him. Stopped Kai or something. I need to stay by his side and keep an eye on him, please, big brother." I murmur weakly. Itachi wraps one arm round my shoulders. I must look a sight, exhausted, pale, and sitting on a hospital bench with my brother and an empty polystyrene cup for company.

"You need to go home." His voice is gentle and soft, the kind of voice people use when talking to a young child "He'll be ok without you Sasuke, Tsunade and Hinata are there. And Mother and Father will be checking in on him around mid-day. Plus, I'm sure Kiba will visit again after school. They'll call you if there's any change. Now," He helps me up off the bench and embarrassingly enough I find myself swaying slightly in his grip. "Let's get you home."

And I'm too tired to disagree.

...

I flop on my bed without bothering to change and fall into a weary, restless sleep.

...

Itachi pushes open the door to his brother's bedroom, and sighs at the sleeping figure sprawled out over the top of rumpled blankets. He walks in, and tucks Sasuke into bed, and rests his hand on his little brother's shoulder for a moment longer than is really necessary, before tiptoeing from the room and closing the door with one last fond look, and a soft smile.

**...**

**...**

**A/N: "Quack Quack. Quack." Oh I say! Lenle's turned into a duck! :O**


	35. Chapter 34

Chapter Thirty Four

It was the shaft of thin, pale golden sunlight that hit my face and woke me. I rolled over with a tense groan, and stretched out like a cat. All my muscles contracting and relaxing as I reach out and then curl back into a ball. The offending light still battered persistently against my eyelids, giving the darkness of my closed eyes a slight peppery orange glow. Deciding I probably had to open my eyes around now, I let them become slits, still guarded against the beam of light that fluttered from the gap in my curtains and paraded across my face. With another groan I rolled back over, tugging my lovely warm sheets with me, and fumbled for my alarm clock. Grasping the dam elusive thing, I pulled it towards me and peered blurrily at the red flashing diodes that illuminated the time, scrubbing sleep out of my eyes to see the numbers properly.

2.43pm

I swore explosively, and wrenched my protesting body out of bed. I was late. Dreadfully late. It was a Sunday, I'd slept all the night and most of the day away when I could have been by Naruto's side.

"Itachi!" I roared downstairs. "Why the hell didn't you wake me?"

Instead of Itachi, it was my mum who poked her head around the door frame, and smiled at the sight of me dashing around the room, still in the clothes I wore yesterday, desperately trying to find my mobile; encase I'd missed any calls.

"I couldn't bear to wake you dear, you just looked so peaceful" And then she laughed, passed me my phone and disappeared around the doorframe. I flicked open the lid – no missed calls.

Then I was thundering downstairs, ready to order Itachi to take me to the hospital straight away, when he met me halfway, and shoved me back up.

"Shower. Now."

He tossed me, protesting mercilessly and screaming profanities, into my en-suite bathroom, chucking in a change of clothes in after me and leaning against the outside of the door so there was no possible escape as I tugged on the handle.

"Go on, get in."

"Aniki..." I moan feebly, but I know he's right. I sigh, resigned to my fate, and strip.

I when I clamber into the shower it's still cold, as it hasn't had the chance to warm up yet. I shiver under the icy blast, and pull the heat up to full to encourage it to warm up quicker. A minute later, as I'm lathering shampoo into my dark hair, I'm being blasted by a boiling jet, and I pull the handle back down to regulate the temperature... and I'm shivering again. My skin a bright tomato red from the temperature abuse, I rinse the soap off and climb out, grabbing a big fluffy towel, and hammering on the door to beg Itachi, who's still smugly sitting there, to get me a pair of socks.

He passes in the offending items when I'm half dressed and I pull them on before trying to hastily wrench my jeans up my half-dry legs. The fabric clings and sticks to the damp skin, making the task nearly impossible. I give an exasperated sigh when the same problem occurs with my T-shirt.

I pound the door again, asking to be let out, so we can 'just go already', but the hand that appears round the doorway is only to hand me a bowl of cereal. I eat it so fast I don't even recognise what's in it.

"Right," Itachi looks me up and down after I've handed the bowl and spoon back to him, and rubbed at my wet hair with the towel so I 'stop dripping all over the dam floor'. "Let's go."

I can't get in the car quick enough.

...

He's asleep when we get there.

His blond hair forming a soft halo around his head where it's pressed against the pillow. His skin soft and pale and almost ethereal as he lies on the bed, the white sheets drawn up over his chest, and his arms lying limply on top of the covers.

He looks like the perfect angel.

Ready to ascend to heaven.

I grip his hand tightly in mine, as cold, raw fear strikes my heart like an iron crashing down on an anvil, and I slip into my usual seat. Itachi pulls a chair up next to me.

"Naruto" I whisper his name on an exhale. "Naruto."

_I can't lose him._

_I can't._

At some point Itachi fetches me a disposable cup of hot chocolate. I let Naruto's fingers curl around it in my hand so he can feel the warmth, and know he needs to get better soon so we can drink one together. Hinata appears to jot down his stats every ten minutes, and Tsunade pops in to check on him twice.

"He's in a drug induced coma." She says, having seen me fretting over his state of unawareness. "In a sort of... dreamless sleep. Hopefully it'll be good for him." She ruffles my hair and writes some notes on a clipboard.

Itachi eventually stands and stretches wearily. He looks more haggard and old than he ever has, dark lines under his eyes, as he runs a hand through his hair.

"I'll be back in a couple of hours. I've got some paper work to fill out at the station. Oh, and you're going to school tomorrow, remember." Itachi pats my shoulder and leaves me there, clutching Naruto's hand like my lifeline.

My eyelids droop as tiredness grasps at me again.

"Sasuke?" I must have fallen asleep, because a soft voice wakes me. I think for one heart-stopping, wonderful moment it must be Naruto... but it's Tsunade with her hand on my shoulder.

"Urrk? Wha'?" Is my intelligent response. She smiles sweetly at me and shakes her head. Her golden-brown eyes twinkling merrily.

"What am I going to do with you?" I shrug in response, and see she's changing one of the bags that pumps chemicals via a tube into Naruto's pale skin.

"He was doing so much better." I whisper, and lean into the touch of her hand on my shoulder.

"He is." She says "This is to keep the nightmares down. We're protecting him from the memories, Sasuke, until he's ready to deal with them."

She presses a light kiss on Naruto's still brow, and steps softly from the room.

Itachi appears half an hour later, ready to pick me up and take me home. I'm supposed to say my goodbyes for the day, but it feels like a final goodbye. Fear clenches my heart.

_What if something was to happen? I couldn't just leave him. What if...?_

I touch my forehead to his uninjured shoulder and whisper into his skin.

"See you, Naruto. I'll be back, I promise."

"I'll bring him back tomorrow, after school." Itachi adds with a smile, and takes my shoulder, and steers me away.

I cast one last fleeting glance back at the still form of my best friend on the bed.

"Naruto."

**...**

**...**

**A/N: D:**

**Hello... I forgot to upload this chapter... oh well... you can read it now! :D**


	36. Chapter 35

Chapter Thirty Five

School's horrible.

With Sakura, Ino, Kiba... everyone simpering and giving their condolences and treating it like he's already gone and died or something.

_He's not going to die._ I tell myself firmly._ He's not._

I lock myself in the toilets at lunch. Feeling pathetic. But I'm not going to cry. Naruto would hate it if I cried.

It's Kiba who finds me. He says nothing, just sits next to me on the filthy floor until the bell rings, and we stand, dusting off our school trousers and glancing in the mirror encase our eyes are slightly red.

I feel horribly sick in Biology.

Orochimaru smiles and leers when he enquires 'how our dear Mr. Uzumaki is doing'. I nearly punch him right in his smug face.

Nearly.

...

I've never been more thankful when the end-of-day bell screams itself hoarse right beside my ear. Even on the last day of term, before the summer, have I never felt so relieved to hear it. I all but run to the car park, it's a miracle how I don't trip over the masses in the corridors, and how I never got a detention for tearing down the halls.

I spot the blue and white and yellow of Itachi's police car in the car park, and I dash over.

"Sasuke." He clicks his keys from inside the car to open the doors, and I clamber in. "You ok?"

"Yeah" I reply breathlessly as he starts up the engine, and pulls out of the carpark. "Naruto...?"

"We're on our way there. He was fine last I checked up, and that was lunch. Still sleeping."

I feel a flash of jealously that he got to see Naruto earlier today, but then I sigh and relax into the padded front seat. My limbs limp and jelly-like. A headache pounded in my skull.

The drive felt like forever.

...

"... to see Uzumaki Naruto, please." Itachi was talking to the receptionist who lounged behind her desk with a bored expression. An expression I was becoming far too used to seeing.

The woman behind the plastic desk had long, red fingernails that were currently clacking away at the keyboard, scraping over the keys with a vengeance as she checked the room number, even though we knew exactly where Naruto would be.

Barbra – for that was the name emblazoned on the little plastic plaque on the front of her jacket– was taking forever. She had her blond hair scraped back against her head into a bun with so much hairspray that it wouldn't be moved by a hurricane. She wore a too-tight standard green receptionists dress with a matching jacket and so much make-up that her original face was undistinguishable. Her lips were painted a bright, candied red that clashed horribly with the hideous dress, and left my eyes with a burning feeling. She also wore a pair of thick, winged spectacles the same ghastly green colour, balanced on the end of her pointed nose. They were studded with cheap, plastic glittery things. She pursued her gaudy red lips at us.

"Mr. Uzumaki is in room 43" she drawled with the same monotone and wording she'd used every visit. "It is currently our visiting hours, so you may go up and see him." Her voice was high, patronising and droning, repeating the same sort of thing she was paid pittance to say over and over again daily. Her eyes were expressionless behind her spectacles and she picked tiredly at her long, red, fingernails; the paint chipping and peeling and forming a small pile of red dust over the 'L' key. She was the epitome of boredom. She eyed my designer ripped jeans and shower tousled hair with obvious distaste on her pointy features. With a shudder, we scurried off before we were subjected to anymore of 'Barbra'.

We took the elevator to the second floor, and it was packed with impatient doctors, nervous visitors and a hoard of coughing, sneezing, spluttering patients. I distantly remember having to watch a video in school once, about how germs spread quickly in small spaces. The example given had been a lift. I shudder and discreetly cover my mouth and nose with the sleeve of my jacket, breathing through the fabric. The doctor next to me, a tall man in green scrubs, smirks at the action. He seems familiar, with long, dark hair and strange gold eyes. But he quickly gets out the lift, striding off to who knows where and I shrug the weird feeling off. We eventually escaped the elevator, and strode purposefully along the corridor towards his room.

A sharp, high bleeping filled my ears, getting faster and faster.

_An alarm?_

The bleeping became one high screaming monotone.

I froze in my tracks, my heart clenched with fear at the sight before me.

Doctors and nurses were rushing in and out of the room at the end of the corridor.

Room 43.

Tsunade could be seen through the glass door, white faced with a strained expression as she barked out orders. Her hands balled into fists. My heart was thumping double time in my chest. Doctors were hovering over the motionless, white form in the bed. A mop of bright, blond hair peeked out from under a nurse's arm. A high, flat tone rang in my ears. Ongoing. They had a defibrillator out. The breath caught in my throat, unnoticeable over the mass of people hollering to one another. Hinata was sobbing hysterically, someone yelled at her to 'get a grip'.

Lights flashed, people shouted, and a flat, red line stretched out across a monitor hooked up to a small, blond haired patient.

Finding my feet, I broke into a run.

"Naruto!"

**...**

**...**

**A/N: D:**

**Oh the cliff-hangers! I'm so very evil sometimes! :3 xxx**


	37. Chapter 36

Chapter Thirty Six

"Sasuke!" Itachi caught me round the middle, wrenching me back. His arm tight around my stomach as I fought against him. Thrashing in his grip. I had to get away. _Naruto was... Naruto was..._

"NARUTO!" I roared, unnoticed in the chaos. Behind the glass screen his chest jerked up as the paddles were pressed to it. It fell still. The doctor waited, then tried again.

And again.

And again.

I fell limp in Itachi's arms, hopelessness overwhelming me, tears streaming down my face.

"No... No..."

But he was gone.

The flat, red line on the monitor told me he was gone.

Gone.

My chest shook under an onslaught of my own sobbing.

Gone.

"D.O.A." Declared the doctor with the defibrillator. Taking a step back from the body on the bed. "Time of death..."

"No!" Tsunade pulled the paddles out of the doctor's hands, tears streaming down her cheeks, "I'm not giving up on him! Come on Naruto!"

The other doctors shook their heads and stepped away. 'Unprofessional' someone muttered. There was no hope.

I hung my head, limp and still in Itachi's arms. Chest heaving. I couldn't breathe. Struggling like a fish out of water. Each sobbed inhale like needles in my lungs. He was gone. I was unable to turn my head to see my brother staring horrified into the room before me, frozen to the spot, but I could hear his heart pounding as I was held against his chest. They'd said Naruto had been getting better. I felt sick. Completely useless. It was like something had been ripped out of my chest and torn into a million pieces.

Naruto was gone.

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

I look up.

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

The blond boy on the bed has startling wide blue eyes, his mouth gaping open as he gasps for breath, one hand bunched into a fist of covers at his side.

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

A machine conveys the unsteady rhythmic beating of his heart.

_Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep._

"Stabilize him!" Tsunade cries out and sinks to her knees, flicking off the machine that she had just used to save his life, as the other doctors rush in and fuss around the boy. His eyes are closed now, but the great gasping breaths he takes are evident with the even rise and fall of his chest. The red line wiggles stubbornly up and down on the screen, exhaustingly steady with every heartbeat. "That' my little fighter" Tsunade whispers, her fingertips reaching for his hand. "My little miracle".

That's Naruto, my relived brain processes, the number one most unpredictable boy... alive.

**...**

**...**

**A/N: Uzumaki Naruto – Number one most unpredictable ninja... right? :D xxx**


	38. Chapter 37

Chapter Thirty Seven

"Poisoned?"

Tsunade nodded slowly in response. She ran a hand over her tired face, scrubbing at the dark circles under her eyes. We were sat on lumpy green chairs in the waiting room, the cushions made of a coarse bobbley fabric that made the three of us shift uncomfortably. Naruto was somewhere in the Intensive care unit again. He'd been getting better, but now... now Tsunade was here telling us how close we'd come to losing him, and how there was a cause for all this.

"We suspect so. It was something that slowed down his immune system so he was struggling and then gave him a bad reaction to the injection of the drug we've been giving him to help him sleep into his IV; causing him to go into cardiac arrest. It was something that reacted with it and nearly killed him."

"Something?" my words catch in my throat.

"We're currently running a blood test to find out exactly what. It could either be our own mistake; we may have given him something he was perhaps allergic to, which is unlikely as we'd not given him anything new to his immune system. In this case we may have mistakenly changed the dosage, but I find this hard to believe, as I oversaw them myself, or..." here she paused and swiped a hand over her face "this was deliberate. Someone tried to kill him. Added something to his IV that would react badly with the chemicals already in his body. And with his track record, I wouldn't be surprised."

"But who would try to kill him?" Itachi's voice rang loudly in my ear, I could feel him hand on my shoulder shaking, and I remembered the doctor in green scrubs in the lift.

A man with long dark hair, and cold, gold eyes.

I grit my teeth and growl;

"Orochimaru."

...

The golden eyed man cursed explosively under his breath and tightened his grip on the test tube he was holding as he surveyed the class.

There was Uchiha.

Sitting perfectly normally in his seat. Looking a bit worse for wear, but not devastated, still hoping. Glaring back at Orochimaru.

_Like he knew._

So the poison hadn't worked?

He'd expected the Uchiha brat to take at least a couple of days off school to sob hysterically at the death of his little friend, but here he was, smirking at him from behind his desk.

"Uchiha? Still no Uzumaki? How's the boy getting on?" All eyes in the class turned to stare at the raven, as he smirked at his teacher.

"Oh, he's doing much better, Orochimaru-_sensei_. Much better."

The test tube in his hand shattered.

The boy was still alive.

...

The bell rang and I all but fled the Biology lab.

I felt dizzy and sick and oh so sure I wanted to punch my teacher right in his smug little face. But I'd shown him. The look on his face when I told him Naruto was 'much better' had been priceless – thunderous.

I sank down again the wall, my grin fading.

But Naruto wasn't doing 'much better'; not at all. I just wanted to curl up in a little ball and cry; right there on the corridor floor.

It had been a horrible day. Late Yesterday evening they'd found traces of a compound chemical; an intended poison, in his blood stream. Someone had tried to kill him. And now I felt sure it had been Orochimaru, trying to... destroy the evidence of all the times he'd...

I curse and bury my head in my hands.

_I shouldn't cry. Naruto would hate it if I cried._

_But Naruto's not even here to see._

Naruto's room's now under heavy police protection, under constant surveillance. We'd all been questioned; even Itachi and I, and I'd told them of my suspicions against my teacher.

They'd have to act soon right? Detain him or something?

But what was the word of one boy, against that of his respected elder? His teacher? We needed Naruto to make a statement against him, to give us some grounds for arrest. Apparently, my own didn't carry enough weight to stand by itself.

_I won't cry. I won't._

But their there; big, fat tears rolling down my cheeks and soaking into the fabric that covers my knees.

_I'm not crying. I'm not._

"Sasuke?" The voice is female, soft, and kind.

_Go away. Go away. Leave me alone. I don't want to be seen like this. It's pathetic._

"Sasuke? Come on..." She's helping me up, and I'm sobbing hysterically into her arm. _This is so embarrassing. _But I can't help it, _Naruto's..._

I find myself crying even harder.

I'm pushed gently into a seat, and I vaguely recognise the staff room through my tears. Kurenai, our school receptionist, sits next to me, and places a comforting hand on my arm.

"What's wrong Sasuke?" She smiles and waits patiently for me to gulp back my tears enough to form coherent words.

"Naruto... Naruto..."

"Shhhhh." She rubs my back as I take great gulps of air between sobs. "Why don't you tell me about it?"

I take a deep breath and nod. Another teacher, Asuma-sensei, walks in and gives her a reassuring wave, then grabs a coffee and disappears. I just about get my tears under control, wiping my eyes and nose on the back of my sleeve for lack of a tissue, she pulls a few out of a box and hands me them to save my clothes from any more snail trails.

"Would you like a drink?" She offers "Tea? Coffee? Hot Chocolate?" And of course, that sets me off sobbing uncontrollably again. She sighs exasperatedly and sits back down in the seat opposite. The seats are the same kind they had in the hospital, lumpy and green. A headache pounds behind my forehead. I bury my face in my hands.

"Come on Sasuke, want to talk about it? I might be able to help." I seriously doubted that, but I told her anyway, all about Naruto, and my fears, and how I felt so totally, annoyingly useless.

How it felt like my fault.

"It's anything but, Sasuke-kun. You acted very bravely, and you've been very strong for Naruto-kun. I'm sure he'll be very grateful for that."

"I'm scared." I whisper, surprising myself for admitting that for the first time. "I'm terrified. What if..."

"It's ok to be scared, Sasuke." She smiles and pats my arm supportively. "We all get frightened, especially for friends."

When I've finally made my face presentable, scrubbing at my face with a wodge of tissues, the bell rings for the end of the day. I've completely missed all of my last lesson, English, I'd have to apologise to Kakashi-sensei later.

"Thanks Kurenai" I attempt a wobbly grin, "I'm going with Itachi to visit him now."

"Oh!" She jumps up suddenly, and reaches over to rummage in a pile on a desk. "Here" she holds out a little blue card "Give this to him, it's from the staff, we've all signed it. And tell him to get better soon for me."

"I will." I smile, and Kurenai gives my shoulder a fond pat.

"Off you go then."

Itachi's waiting in the carpark, the police radio on, listening intently at the receiver. I slip into the seat next to him, moving a stack of files to sit down.

"What's up? Are you needed for something?" I ask, and he sighs.

"No, nothing important." He flicks it off. "I was just listening in, seeing if I can find anything out around Orochimaru's circumstances." We'd filed a report yesterday evening of our suspicions. "Father said he couldn't do much without a statement from Naruto."

"We're going there now right?"

"The hospital? Yeah, but I need to take that file in to the Station first" He nods to one of the files I've dumped on the dash.

The drive to the police station seems like forever, and when we get there, and Itachi disappears inside it feels like even longer until he reappears again. That time is filled with me fiddling with the radio as it blares out a cheesy pop song, that Naruto would have loved, and turning the heat up full blast so it's warm and dusty in the car. I never once gaze at the back seats. I have a headache and a sick feeling in the bottom of my stomach. My fingers drum nervously on the cleared dashboard. Eventually Itachi clambers back in and starts up the ignition. "How was school?" He asks.

"Awful." I lean my face in my hands.

"You ok?" he spares me a quick glance in the mirror, his eyes meeting mine on the cool glass.

"I will be." _I hope._

He nods and smiles and pulls over a car that's forgotten to put their headlights on as darkness falls.

"You sure you're ok?" He asks. I guess he's referring to my slightly red eyes and tired appearance. I just nod lamely in response. With a sigh, he starts up the engine again.

"We'll be there soon, Sasuke."

We'll be there soon.

**...**

**...**

**A/N: Urk... so tired... **

***Lenle falls alseeeeeep***

**XP**


	39. Chapter 38

Chapter Thirty Eight

Barbra the receptionist offers Itachi a simpering smile as she types on her little keyboard. She carefully looks him up and down, her gaudy red lips pursed in a slight smile; he's dressed in black, leather jacket in place, one hand sweeping through his dark hair. He's impatient to go; I can see that from the rigidness of his back, the slight crease in his brow, but Barbra flutters her ridiculously fake eyelashes at him and taps her long nails to get this attention. I shudder.

"So..." She begins, plastic smile fixed in place.

"Room 43" Itachi states, "make a note we're here."

"Wait!" she screeches "I don't suppose you'd fancy going out sometime, you know, for a sneaky little hot choccie or something?"

The breath catches in my throat. My knees feel weak. Itachi grits his teeth and glares.

"Not if you were the last woman on Earth."

And he stalks away, me trailing in awe behind him.

...

Tsunade is sitting in my usual chair when we get there, I can see through the glass screen that she's holding his hand carefully in her own, like it's made of finest bone china and could shatter at any moment. Her mouth moving as she talks to someone. Tears sparkling in the corners of her eyes.

"You're going to be fine." She whispers as her thumb strokes a pattern over his skin, "You're doing really well, Naruto. You gave us all quite a fright, me, Hinata, your friend Sasuke..."She smiles softly and moves to brush soft blond hair away from a pale forehead.

It's the weak, fluttering voice that reply's that sends my heart into disarray, pounding in my chest, filling it with hope and a immense sense of joy.

"S'kay?"

_It's Naruto's voice._

It's Naruto.

My eyes widen, and my heart pounds and I'm running, calling out his name as I shove the wooden door so that it swings open. I dash inside, followed closely by Itachi. Scraping up a seat next to Tsunade, and she offers her own to Itachi. I reach out and take his hand.

"Naruto?" He's lying on his bed, shrouded in crisp white sheets. His blond hair spread out like a halo. His blue eyes open a just a crack. There unfocused and blurry, and the expected shade of startling blue seems duller somehow. Faded.

"Heya." His voice is soft and weak. His hand thin and papery in mine. I can feel each bone in his fingers as they curl around my own.

"Heya." I say, for lack of better response. It feels like all the breath in my body has been taken away. The horrible aching that's resided in my chest feels suddenly lighter, warmer. Tears burned as they threaten to well up in my eyes, but it wouldn't do to cry now.

There's a pause. An awkward silence where neither of us can find the words we want to say. Then we both start speaking at once. And we laugh.

My laugh is loud. Overly bright. Thrilled.

His laugh is hollow. Lacking. Small.

I prop the card from Kurenai and the other teachers up on the little table by his bed. Next to the one I got him weeks ago (that our whole family signed), a soft yellow one from Tsunade and the ones from his friends. Kiba's card is handmade and covered in red and blue glitter with a stick drawing on two boys, one blond, one brown haired and a small, white dog.

"The teachers gave me a card for you" I explain to him, as he slowly tilts his head with a pained wince to peer hazily at them. I point out the other ones, and tell him who there from. He laughs softly at Kiba's card.

His eyes are misty and unfocused as he looks at them. Lacking the usual spark.

"Naruto..."

He tries to put a smile on his face, but the exhaustion and drugs make it feeble and lopsided. I sit back in the chair and tell him about all he's missing until he falls asleep.

I find myself sitting with him until Itachi peels my hand from his, and takes me home.

Sleep feels a bit better that night.

**...**

**...**

**A/N: Barbra with her badly spelt name... oh she makes Lenle laugh XD xxx**


	40. Chapter 39

Chapter Thirty Nine

"Naruto?"

He's propped up in the hospital bed, holding the card from the teachers in both hands, staring avidly at the contents; his face coloured a horrifying shade of deathly white that I hadn't seen in a good couple of weeks, and had hoped to never seen again. "Naruto?" I took his uninjured arm, giving it a gentle shake, trying to pull him from his reverie. "You ok? Naruto? Naruto?"

Fear bubbled cold and cruel inside me as he silently held out the card for me to take with hands that shook as if possessed. "Naruto?" His breathing came in short, sharp pants and as I untwined it from his grip and his juddering finger pressed down on a spot on the card where a spidery message and signature stood out from the others in horrible scratchy black biro.

'_Get well quickly Naruto-kun, I hope to see you in my class again as soon as possible.'_ It read, signed in dark loopy writing that I'd glared at on many a biology test result... '_Orochimaru-sensei'._

"Orochimaru? Naruto I... that is we... me and Itachi... we think..." My jaw snapped shut as he gripped my hand, and stared at me, wild eyed and deathly afraid. Shocking me into stuttering silence.

"Sasuke." His voice broke, and then he was sobbing uncontrollably; huge great sobs that wracked his whole chest with each cry. His eyes wide and young and sparkling and so very very blue. He reached out and wound his hands into the front of my T-shirt and clung on for dear life with a grip of steel. I wrapped my arms lightly around his heaving chest and he burrowed his head into my shoulder blade, his nose pressing cold against my collarbone. "I saw him;" he stuttered "he was dressed in green and smiled and he... he... it hurt Sasuke..." His voice was tiny, tired, weak; broken up between great heaving cries "It hurt so much. Like nothing. Like everything. Like fire in my blood... then just blackness, nothingness... I was so scared... and... Sasuke... Sasuke..." He clung tightly to my arms and tried desperately to control his breathing. "I'm sorry Sasuke, so, so sorry..." He sobbed into the front of my t-shirt. _He's sorry?_ Fury built up inside me. _He's fucking sorry!_

"You're sorry!" I all but exploded at him; wrenching his hands from their grip on my top and shoving him away, so he slumped back with an agonising pained groan onto his pillows. I miss the flicker of fear that runs through his features. "I let the bastard near you in the first place! Naruto! I... This is all my fault! I..." I buried my head in my hands.

"S'kay..." Naruto groaned and reached a weak hand out "'elp" he murmured. I look up to see his eyes half-lidded in pain. He was slumped over, the agony on his face evident, having jarred his injured side in the manoeuvre. A jolt of horrible cold guilt ran through my system so dark and strong it made me gasp aloud. The expletives I uttered in that moment were colourful enough to make even Itachi's look feeble in comparison.

"Sorry..." I wrapped an arm under his good shoulder, supported his uninjured side, and helped him into a sitting position again – leaning against the fluffed up pillows.

"Ow..." he murmurs weakly, letting his eyelids flop closed. For one moment I think he's fallen asleep again, but then he says; "is ok" and rests a hand loosely on my arm, craving the friendly contact. His expression as I reach out to touch his good shoulder in comfort is fear filled, but then his takes a deep breath of recognition, and leans into the gesture. "Orochimaru..." he speaks so softly I barely hear him "tired to poison me... tell... Tsunade, Itachi... please... Sasuke..."

And all my suspicions were confirmed.

I grit my teeth as I watch Naruto slip back off to sleep, and I'm not religious, but in that moment I silently pray to every God or heavenly being I know of, that he's not going to be plagued by nightmares again.

_Orochimaru had done this to him._

The fury returns with a vengeance. He'd reduced the bouncy, blond, ball of endless energy I called my best friend to this. Turned him small and frightened. Like a little boy lost in the dark.

I was going to kill that bastard.

**...**

**...**

**A/N: Naruto does a lot of falling asleep at strategic moments in this story, right? Lols XD**

**And Sasuke's off with a vengeance, maybe I should lend him my pointy stick! :3 xxx**

**Forgive any mistakes in this chapter, I haven't proof-read it yet! It's far to late at night... or morning (it's 12.17)... to bother? *Falls asleep* XD  
><strong>


	41. Chapter 40

Chapter Forty

I flung open the door to the biology office, and stormed in.

It was empty save for one of the school governors. It was a well known fact Kabuto liked to lurk in Orochimaru's office.

"Where the fuck is he?" I growled, fisting up the front of the bastards shirt, and spitting in his face.

"My my Sasuke-kun. Assaulting a school governor; that won't look good on your reports." I let out a low warning growl right in my smug little face. "As for Orochimaru-_sensei_, I'm afraid he heard the _joyous_ news that our dear Naruto-kun was doing well, and I haven't seen him since."

My eyes widened.

I had to get back to Naruto.

_Now._

I spun away on my heel, tearing round the doorframe and only just hearing Kabuto call after me.

"Tell Naruto-kun to get well soon from me!"

...

I arrived at the hospital breathless and panting.

I tore past reception, forgetting to sign in, and shoved my way into the elevator. _What if Orochimaru was there? What is he was going to...? If Naruto was...?_

I glared impatiently at the flashing orange number that indicated the floor number as it went up. I paced, jostling the other people in the packed lift, and I ran an agitated hand through my hair. I didn't have time for this. _Naruto could be..._

The feelings of worry were all too familiar, all too strong.

_Naruto..._

The soft ping of the elevator, and the scratchy 'level two' of a female voice, as the doors slid open was the best sound I'd heard in my life. I raced down the corridor, pushing past people. One doctor screamed blue murder after me. There was room 43. At the end of the corridor. Naruto would be there. The pair of burly security guards outside the door nodded to me in acknowledgement. I skidding to a stop before them then raced up to the window. A dark, shadowy figure leant over the person in the bed. Shrouded in darkness. A syringe in hand.

"No!" I screamed, my heart pounding, racing past the bemused guards and shoving the door open and leaping with a snarl towards...

Tsunade.

Staring at me with a shocked expression and the needle she had been cleaning in hand as she had chatted.

"Sasuke... what?"

"Sasuke?" I looked over at where Naruto lay on the bed. His eyes were open, conscious, aware. So very, very blue.

"S... Sorry... I thought you were..."

"Thought I was who?" Tsunade laid down the needle on a tray with others and tucked them away, a curious expression on her face. I looked over at Naruto, his eyes widened and afraid and locked one mine.

"Sasuke?" His voice was small and afraid and so, so _wrong_.

"N... no one... never mind..."

Tsunade looked between me and Naruto then took my upper arm and all but dragged me from the room, shooting a sunny smile behind her in my blond friend's general direction.

"Thought I was who?" She hissed in my ear, cornering me in her office, her eyes cold and suspicious. I sighed, resigned to telling her, she deserved to know.

"A man named Orochimaru." She drew in a sharp breath at this. "He's the one who instigated all this and..."

"Orochimaru?" She cut me off, eyes wide and surprised. "As in, Orochimaru who teaches biology at Konoha High, as in... as in my brother, Orochimaru?"

"You have a brother?" I stared at her, shocked.

"Two actually." She frowned. "Jiraiya and Orochimaru. We've all known Naruto since he was little. The family used to come round for Sunday lunch with the three of us once a fortnight. Naruto kept up that tradition after his parent's death, coming round with his foster family, until right up until Laila died..." She rubbed a hand over her face "Please tell me you mean a different Orochimaru..."

"Teaches biology at Konoha high." I repeated, deadpanning, "Long black hair, gold eyes, real creep..." Tsunade's face got a shade paler with each detail.

"Oh God..." she buried her face in her hands "He was always really close to Naruto... and..."

"I found him trying to rape Naruto on a school trip, right at the beginning of all this. That was when I found out Kai had been abusing him..." I had to sit down; slumping in Tsunade's chair "I think it'd happened before, Orochimaru getting too close for anyone's liking and..."

"Naruto" His name was a pained whisper on her lips, her face a deathly white. She slid into the chair opposite.

"I believe Orochimaru instigated all of this, he tried to stop Naruto from telling anyone what he'd been doing to him, and used Kai to do this."

"Naruto told you this?"

"I... no... It's just speculation really, but everything points to it... Naruto did tell me however, he saw Orochimaru standing over him just before he was poisoned. It was him, Tsunade, he's crazy... he tried to kill Naruto and..."

"That bastard." Her hands were tightly clenched into fists, her face pale as she remembered the trauma of that night. "I'll kill him!"

"I went to the school, he's not there, Kabuto; someone who works with him hinted he might come here to hurt him again..."

"And so you ran back..." She enveloped me in a hug, the scowl fading from her face. "Thank you Sasuke" She rested her chin on the top of my stunned head. "Thank you".

"Don't thank me" I came to my senses and wrenched myself from her grip "Most of this was my fault anyway..."

"Oh Sasuke... don't..."

And I disappeared back to his bedside.

...

Tsunade came to sit by me later, when he was asleep.

"You've told the police all this right? They're going to stop him right? So he can't hurt Naruto anymore..."

"Itachi and Dad know, with the latest piece of confirmation, Naruto's comment that it was, in fact, Orochimaru who poisoned him." I told her, leaning my face into my hands "They have enough evidence to place a restraining order on him, to take him to court... but..."

"He's disappeared..." She acknowledges, and I sigh.

"Yeah, he's disappeared."

**...**

**...**

**A/N: Dun dun duuuuuuunnnn! *does a dramatic look from left to right to central***

**:D**

**Hey! If you liked it so far, why not drop Lenle a review! :D xxx**


	42. Chapter 41

Chapter Forty One

Naruto was coming home today.

Home.

My home; that hopefully would become his again.

I cross my fingers in my seat.

Tsunade had wanted to take custody of him, but after some reassurances from my father, she'd decided it would be best for him to be in a familiar environment. With us.

She was going to come round of Sunday – for dinner. A proper roast. I said I'd help cook.

Naruto sits silently in the back seat of the police car next to me, staring blankly out the window.

I can't tell if he's taking the view in or not.

His injuries were doing a lot better. Healing quickly as usual. He was on about seven different medications, for this, that and the other. To heal the physical and the non. To stop the nightmares.

I sigh loudly as the car stops, and Itachi cheerfully states that 'weeeerree hooome!' and bounces out. Naruto continues staring out the window, not even noticing we've stopped. I reach a hand towards him, to give his shoulder a slight shake and he flinches away from me. His eyes scrunch up as he shies away, then widen in shock. I stare at him, as he realises what he just did, and gives himself a little shake, locking his big blue, sad eyes with mine. Slowly, he lets me place a gentle hand on his arm, glancing up at every opportunity to check this was me, and yes; it was all ok. I helped him out the car and into the house, sitting him on the bed. His orange bedspread is out. The one with the big orange fox on. The one mum bought for him. His favourite one. He stares silently straight ahead without acknowledging me as I tell him I'm going to bring tea up.

"We're having ramen." I tell him, and he looks up at me, a slight smile appearing on his face.

Ramen could always put a smile there.

"Thanks Sasuke."

I suddenly feel nauseous and angry and a little bit sick. _Stop thanking me!_ I scream at myself. _This is all my fault!_

But I can't say anything to his hopeful stare, and I nod slightly and wander downstairs. I eat my own ramen in the room with him. Naruto doesn't say a word.

_It's too quiet._

_All too quiet._

I sigh and collect the empty dishes.

...

Naruto flinches when anyone touches him. He's seeing a physiatrist; talking through his problems apparently. I don't think it's helping much. He barely talks at all; I can't imagine him speaking with a stranger.

He's off school, and stays in the house with mum or dad or Itachi. He won't drink milk.

I have to go to school still, and I sit in my usual seat; staring at the vacant one next to me.

Where Naruto should be.

He should come back to school. See his friends. There all worried about him.

...

When we finally persuade him to go back to school (and his physiatrist to let him), he's distant and pales in the onslaught of people talking to him. He avoids physical contact and flinches away.

Even from me.

...

True to my word, I helped Mum cook Sunday roast, and I even laid the table. Which should have been Itachi's job. Smug bastard. I'd get Mum to make him to do the washing up later. He casts a narrowed glance at my sudden smirk, and gives me the 'I know your plotting against me' glare.

I laugh aloud.

Tsunade arrives in a shiny black Honda, with a personalised number plate that read 'S 4 NNIN' and sits on Naruto's left side and chats amiably as we eat. Naruto smiles slightly to see her there.

...

"Naruto?" I hand him the mug carefully after I've blown on it and taken a sip. It's not too hot. "Here." He takes it by the handle with a small, empty smile and says;

"Thanks Sasuke." In that same quiet, horrible, un-Naruto voice.

I raise my own hot chocolate to my lips and take a long gulp. It tastes bitter and dark. How I usually like it. But today it just seems like the worst thing on Earth.

I drink the rest of Naruto's when he's done with it. It's light and frothy and full of e-numbers. I Drain the mug and picking out the marshmallows. The sugar and cream make me feel a bit sick.

Very sick.

This wasn't right.

This wasn't supposed to be like this.

It was supposed to be _fun_.

But now it just hurt – a shadow of a joyous memory turned painful.

...

It had been three weeks since his release when it happened.

I'd walked into his room, tray in hand of our tea, and found Naruto sitting on the bed, tears slipping unceasingly down his cheeks and dripping slowly off his chin; giving a soft plip as they hit the skin of his bare arms. His eyes are wide and unfocused. A pair of scissors open in his hand. The blades pressed against his wrist.

The tray fell to the ground with a crash. Soup curdled with juice and pieces of jagged crockery in a dark pool on the plastic surface, spilling and splattering onto the carpet with a noise like rainfall.

"Naruto!"

He jumped and whipped his head up to look at me. Fear flashing through his eyes.

I raced over and I was by his side, automatically gathering him into my arms. He pushed weakly at my chest, trying to force me away, with a small cry. The scissors fell to the ground with a barely distinguishable thud. Then, quite suddenly, he just gave up struggling and fighting, bonelessly collapsing against my chest and sobbing into my t-shirt.

"Sasuke..."

**...**

**...**

**A/N: Ok... so maybe no one will notice that Tsunade's number plate is completely impossible, as you're only allowed one letter, then three numbers, then three letters... but I couldn't think of anything else that fit better... 'T 5 UNADE' and 'H 084 GE' were rejected... XD**


	43. Chapter 42

Chapter Forty Two

"I wasn't going to do it, Sasuke... I wasn't" he whispers from in my arms. Cold aching fear pressed hard and heavy against my chest "I was just wondering what it would feel like. If it would help. If it would make it all go away. I just want this to stop."

I took his thin wrist in my hand, my fingers wrapping round it and the ends of them touching. The blades had not left a mark on his skin, but there was a big, terrifyingly dark stain on his soul.

"How could this help?" I hiss, and rest my chin on the top of his head. I heard the bed creak, and I realised I'd been rocking us both back and forward. I stopped. "Naruto..."

"I don't know." And he was sobbing again "I just wanted it to all go away... but I couldn't... I wouldn't do anything... I..." He buried his face in my collarbone and clung tightly, the rest of his words mumbled into the fabric of my t-shirt and lost forever.

"It's ok." and one of my hands was stroking his hair in a soothing pattern "It's all going to be ok, Naruto."

"I'm sorry, Sasuke. So, so, sorry..."

...

I tucked him into bed after he's fallen asleep, and grabbed a towel, pressing it to the ugly stain all over the carpet in the doorway. The fabric soaked up some of the liquid, but most of it had seeped in too far, and would show up awfully on the cream coloured carpet. I picked out chunks of china, and piled them carefully on the tray. A shard bit into my finger, drawing blood. I sigh, being careful not to be too loud, so as not to wake him, hand hold my finger to my mouth. The blood tastes metallic and bitter.

A small snuffle from his general direction, and I'm at his side again in an instant, stroking his hair. I worry he's having a nightmare, but he's sleeping peacefully. The drugs he's taking working their magic.

I rest my forehead on his cheek for just a moment, before forcing myself to get up and find some stain remover for that dam carpet. I think there's some in the kitchen cupboard – under the sink.

I pick the scissors up off the floor and stuff them in my pocket. I also pilfer his razors from his en-suite, and his pencil-sharpener – for good measure.

I cast a glance back at him, to reassure myself he's still sleeping peacefully, and I totter quietly downstairs.

Mum, Dad and Itachi are all sat around the kitchen table, talking in low, hushed voices.

"Sleeping" I tell them, then collect the remover from under the sink. Itachi sends me a questioning look "I dropped our tea" my stomach gives a loud rumble, and I grab a slice of bread. "He'll be hungry when he wakes up". I grab another, and then opt just to take the bread bin. "I'll be in his room."

"His room?" Itachi frowns. We'd not stayed in his room for his fear of people trying to...

"He was going to cut himself" I deadpan "I found him crying and holding a pair of scissors." Their faces are white and shocked in the weak light "I've confiscated them." _And any other sharp, pointy objects._ I add in my head.

I make my way back up to his room, and find he's still sleeping peacefully. I place the breadbox on his chest of drawers, and scrub at his floor as quietly as possible with the stain remover.

Eventually, the stain seems to have lifted a bit, and I give up.

I totter over to Naruto, who's curled up on his side, and I sit on the floor next to his bed. Exhaustion crashes over me like a wave of ice. My eyelids and limbs feel leaden and heavy. My head lolls back to rest on the edge of his bed, and pretty soon, I'm fast asleep.

"Naruto" His name flutters as a murmur from my lips.

...

About halfway through the night I think I hear a muffled yell in the dark, but then a sudden pain erupts in the side of my head. And I'm asleep again.

...

The morning arrives bright and clear, and I'm woken by a horrible, strong sunlight and a cold breeze against my cheek.

I prop myself up with a low groan. I'd been sprawled out on the floor all night. My back and shoulder ached terribly from the awful angle. My head, for some god-unknown reason, pounded and throbbed like I'd had too many to drink. With another groan, I looked up, cricking my neck, and blinking sleep out of my eyes, expecting to see the blond boy still fast asleep across on his bed.

But _he's not there_.

Sudden cold fear grips my chest.

"Naruto!" I yell, sitting bold upright. My head pounded, and the world span slightly. "Naruto!" I stare frantically around. The sheets are rucked up and tangled. The window is broken. Shards of glass digging into the carpet.

"Naruto!" I scream at the top of my lungs. My breathing in disarray, my eyes wide and wild.

There's a clamouring of feet on the stairs, and Itachi flings himself into the room. He'd hear me yelling.

"Sasuke, wha'...?" He trains off, wide eyed as he surveys the empty bed. His eyes widen further as they flick to me, staring at my head. I'm distantly aware there's dried blood crusting there amongst my dark hair. I must have been knocked out. My vision is blurring slightly. Pain blossoms in the side of my head, worsening with each desperate thought that enters my brain. _Maybe he just went downstairs?_ But Itachi's eyes flick back to the bed.

"Where is he?" his hand shakes on the doorframe, gripping the wood tight enough to splinter. The fear evident in his voice. "Sasuke! Where is he?"

"I..." the world was spinning, tilting, wavering "... don't know." And then my knees gave under me, my eyes rolled up and I fell into blackness.

_Naruto._

**...**

**...**

**A/N: **

**CLIFFHANGERS! NOOOOOO!**

***Runs in abject terror away from the angry readers with big pointy sticks screaming; 'not another cliffhanger you evil writer!'***

**Nooo! Don't kill me! Please! You'll never know what happens if you do! I'll make it up to you by writing you another update if you like!  
><strong>

***Goes and checks her bedroom door for readers who may be sitting outside it and waiting***

**:3 **


	44. Chapter 43

Chapter Forty Three

It was dark.

Why was everything dark?

Naruto reached a hand out into the blackness and jumped when it came into contact with a solid wall. His head cracked against another wall behind him. His breath came in short pants. Frantically he moved his hands around. There were walls on both other sides. His knees were pressed up against his chest. The ceiling somewhere above him. His fingers brushed a cobweb and he dared explore no further. It was so cold. Slightly damp. His heart thumped in his chest. Beating out a frantic rhythm. It was all so small. Felt like it was closing in. He couldn't breathe. There were footsteps, someone walking his way.

"Sasuke?" He called out, the name a frightened plea on his lips. A thin, blinding shaft of light hit his eyes as a door was wrenched open, sending him tumbling out of the tiny space. He landed hard on the cold stone floor, the side of his face aching from the impact. The shape of a man stood before him, unidentifiable in the blinding light. He blinked lots, trying to clear his vision, calm his pounding heart.

"Hello Naruto-kun." And the smirking voice was unmistakable. A voice that sent him into the throes of panic. A voice that chilled him to the core. His whole body stiffened up and froze. He couldn't move. Couldn't call out for help. Couldn't breathe.

The voice's owner faded into view as Naruto's eyes adjusted to the light. A man who he'd hoped to never see again.

A man who had long, dark hair, and glistening, golden eyes.

_Orochimaru._

...

I swore explosively under my breath as I watched Itachi pace. He was wearing his uniform. He should have been at the station twenty minutes ago for work. He'd frantically searched the whole house for signs of Naruto. He'd found no-one. I'd been confined to a chair while my mother prodded my hairline looking for breaks and damage.

"You've got a nasty little cut their Sasuke" and so for some god-forsaken reason she feels the need to give it a good jab with her finger "and you'll have a lump." I groan impatiently. Dad was looking at our CCTV footage. He'd called up the station. Kisame and Deidara were on standby.

We needed evidence. We needed to know where he was. So we could go get him back.

My heart was pounding in my chest. All too familiar feelings of fear bubbling there. I clench and unclench my fists agitatedly. My mother gives one a gentle slap. I'm making her more nervous with my fidgeting. But I can't help it. Naruto could be in danger.

_We had to go._

_Now._

_But where to?_

One of my knees joins in with my hands, jigging impatiently up and down. I wonder briefly if I should call Tsunade – she'd want to know. My mother sighs, looking between my knee and Itachi's pacing. She opens her mouth to say something, but then;

"Come and look at this!" is the frantic call. It's my dad. He must have found something on the CCTV.

We all see the dark figure, with long black hair and golden eyes, bundle a limp, terrifyingly blond figure into the back of a dark coloured car.

"Orochimaru." I spit.

"Can we trace that car? Find out where he is?" Itachi's voice reasons and only shakes slightly as he speaks. His fists seem intent on splintering the wood of the back of Dad's chair.

"Not without having stuck a GPS tracker on it" my father shakes his head, and zooms in on the car in the frozen image on the screen. "The number plate seems familiar though..."

And that's because it was, I realised.

That's because the whole car was familiar. Because I recognised it from a certain Sunday dinner. It was a black Honda, with 'S 4 NNIN' for a number plate.

"That's Tsunade's car." I realise. "He's stolen his sister's car."

The other three in the room shoot me a look as they realise I'm right.

"Call Tsunade" My father barks, and Itachi picks up the receiver, punching in her number. No one picks up. He tries again. And again.

Then he lets it ring on and the phone goes to answer machine. He leaves a short, frantic message. There's a long high pitched bleep, after Itachi finishes speaking and presses a button, which sounds so horrifyingly like Naruto's old heart monitor. Flat lining. It's a sound that makes my heart stutter in my chest. Then there's silence.

Itachi scrapes his car keys off the desk with a loud grating noise that makes us all jump.

"I'm going to Tsunade's. If she was there she'd answer her phone. Unless..."

"You think he's broken into her house, and taken Naruto there."

"And you agree." Itachi states, and my father nods.

"If he's there Tsunade could be in danger too. I'll go to the station, get Kisame and Deidara. You go there, call me if you see anything, and we'll be there, but don't go in alone, ok?" Itachi gives a grim nod and turns to leave, but I grab his sleeve.

"I'm coming too." I tell him.

"No you're not." He shrugs off my hand. "If Orochimaru's there, I'm not letting a kid like you anywhere near."

"I'm coming." I repeat "And I'm not a kid, not anymore, Aniki."

"Sasuke..." He sighs.

"I'll stay in the car! I can't just sit here wondering!" I scowl and then he caves.

"Fine, but you _stay_ in the car."

Dad nods in acknowledgement, and then we're in the car and driving.

He'd better be safe.

**...**

**...**

**A/N: **

**Thanks for reading so far! Drop Lenle a review if you liked this chappie! :D **


	45. Chapter 44

Chapter Forty Four

Orochimaru.

All the blood in Naruto's body felt like it had turned to ice. He couldn't breathe. Wildly he looked around, desperate for some escape, some exit. He tried frantically to force air into his lungs.

They were in a kitchen. A beautiful farmhouse-style kitchen. With wooden beams criss-crossing the ceiling. He realised distantly he must have been locked in a cupboard. The one next to the sink. Utensils are scattered across the floor. The two large windows seemed so very far away. One is broken. He suddenly had the weirdest thought he'd seen this kitchen before. With its quaint wooden units, and small, cheery log burner. Like he'd seen it so many times. So long ago. It was the presence of a blond-haired figure, slumped terrifyingly against the doorframe at the other end of the room that confirmed his suspicions as to exactly whose house this was. She was very much unconscious. A trickle of blood ran down her hairline and dripped softly off her chin.

_Tsunade b__aa-chan__._

Horrified, he made the mistake of looking back up at their attacker.

**Crack.**

Orochimaru struck him across the face, sending the dazed blond sprawling across the floor. Then he kicked him, the blow glancing across his ribs. Then into his side. Then his head.

"S'kay..." the name was a half-blurred whisper through a painful haze. The dark-haired man grabs his wrist, wrenching the blond's arm right up behind his back, and crudely twisting it, forcing the boy to cry out. Making him shriek in pain.

He thought he heard something snap. Break with a small crunch, like a twig being stepped on and breaking in half. The boy was screaming. His face tinged slightly blue, dark scars standing out like ink on paper. Not getting enough air through his cries. Sobbing a certain name. Orochimaru smiles.

"Sasuke-kun's not coming for you Naruto." His long cold fingers stroked a path down the side of the boy's face. "No one's going to save you. Not this time." He licked a smooth line along his prey's jaw.

"No. Stop. Please stop!" And Naruto was frantically crying out, writhing in the man's grip, trying to twist away. Another blow to the side of his face sent him crashing to the ground, effectively silencing him. His chest heaved with quick wheezing breaths.

"Mummy and Daddy are dead. Everyone you love dies or hates you, don't they Naruto-kun? It's better like this; you and me."

_No. No. No._

_It's not._

_Not this._

The world swam as he tried to turn and face his attacker.

Orochimaru stood over him with a dark, shiny look in his eye. Naruto knew that look; it was the look he'd had had when...

Orochimaru took a step closer. Naruto couldn't move, he was frozen to the spot; the night in the hotel room in France flashing before his eyes.

"No..." His voice came out as a choked whisper. "Please..." Then Orochimaru grabbed him by the hair, and wrenching him up to meet his mouth. His whole scalp felt on fire. Orochimaru growled and shoved his tongue between his lips, then threw him to the floor, straddling him.

"NO!" the scream was hoarse and desperate in his throat. "NO!"

...

Agitated, my knee bounced up and down and Itachi shot it a meaningful glare.

"Stop it." He hissed. I was making him more and more nervous.

"Sorry." I mutter. I didn't want to distract him. _Not now._ Not when we needed to get to Tsunade's as fast as possible. We were in Itachi's police car. Blue lights flashing, hurtling down the road.

We pass a street I recognise as Naruto's old one.

I shudder and close my eyes.

_We're on our way, Naruto. We'll be there soon._

_We'll be there soon._

...

_Pain._

_Oh god. So much pain._

_Bang. The sound of a shot._

_Then blackness._

_Sweet, unrelenting blackness._

...

Itachi flicks the lights off at the end of the road, and we crawl along it at a snail's pace. His fists clenched white on the steering wheel. I'm distantly aware I'm shaking.

_Please be all right Naruto. Please be alright._

We stop outside one house. Where all the other houses on the street are quiet and empty, their owners having gone off to work and taken the kids to school, a loud noise is coming from this one. Like sounds of a struggle. My heart skips a beat. Silently, Itachi straightens his uniform, and pulls out his gun, holding it tightly, his knuckles white. He check the cartridge, gives me a glare as if to say 'stay put', and gets out the car.

I watch him as he becomes a dark, shadowy figure, and creeps up to the house. He presses his body flat against a wall, and peers round the edge through a broken window. Even from this distance, I could see all colour drain from his face.

"Freeze!" I hear him yell, pointing the gun through the shattered glass of the window. "Get the hell away from him!" And my heart stutters. _Naruto must be in there._ I grab the radio. I recognise the voice that answers.

"Dad!" I scream.

"Sasuke?" He sounds panicked "What's going on...?"

"Itachi's going to..."

_Bang._

A loud shot rings out. I jerk my head up in time to see the figure of my older brother crumple to the ground. "Oh my god! Dad! Dad! Itachi's..." I'm hyperventilating. I can't breathe. I don't register what my Dad's shouting. Without knowing what they're doing my legs leap out of the seat. I drop the radio handset and I'm running. Itachi's lying on the floor. Someone's laughing.

I'm at my brother's side, rolling him over. There's blood. My foggy, desperate brain can't work out where's its coming from.

"Itachi? Itachi? Aniki? Itachi!"

His shoulder. That's the source of the blood. I press my hands over the wound.

Laughter. I look up. Straight into a pair of cold, golden eyes.

_Orochimaru._

**...**

**...**

**A/N: **

**Dear me... I feel so, so evil... NARUUUUTTTOOOOO! D':  
><strong>

**Well... there you go, have another chapter!**

**It's midnight(-ish) over here now! So I'm off to bed! *Loud yawn*. Will try to post an update tomorrow! Sorry about the cliffies! Thanks for reading xxx **


	46. Chapter 45

Chapter Forty Five

"My my, if it isn't Sasuke-kun." He looks down at something on the floor, slightly to his left; hidden by the window frame. "He came after all, Naruto-kun. Shame you can't see this."

_Can't see..._

Cold, icy fear grips my heart in its frozen fist. My head pounds. My vision swims.

"What the hell have you done with him!"

And Orochimaru has the nerve to laugh. Laugh as my hands are covered in my brother's blood. Laugh as he's done god knows what with my best friend. Laugh right until I punch him right in his smug face.

**Crack.**

His head snaps to one side. He freezes a moment, shocked. I stumble back. He has a shiny, red, fist mark on the side of his face. In Itachi's blood. His tongue darts out to taste it. Like a snake. I feel sick and dizzy.

"You little sod!" His eyes are crazed angry flames, wide and mad and staring. His head tilted to one side. He raises the gun and points it at me. A smile on his lips. He lets out a short, sharp bark of laughter. "Not like Naruto-kun." His head cocks further over. "Naruto-kun's a good little boy. Oh and he screamed and screamed so much..." His long, slimy tongue slides out the corner of his mouth and licks a wet stripe across his lips. One hand travels down under the sight of the window. His eyes flutter shut. "And he tasted so..."

"Fuck you!"

**Crack.**

**Crack.**

He punches me back. Catching my jaw and sending me crashing to the ground. I bash the side of my injured head against the window sill. Stars burst before my eyes.

I throw up.

I'm lying on the ground, struggling to breathe. The grass is wet and cold and the sharp earthy smell seems sickly to my nose. The glare of the sun too bright. The world goes fuzzy; like there's television static crackling across my eyes. White noise. Little black and white blobs fizzle in and out of my swimming vision. My heart's a drum in my chest. I gasp for air like a fish out of water. My mouth opening and closing in a little 'O' shape.

Orochimaru stares nonchalantly down at me through the broken window, then shrugs and turns away. The gun he was holding slips carelessly out of his hand and lands on the tiled floor with a loud thunk, as he stalks across the room.

"Now, Naruto-kun" he leans down, out of sight. "Let's play a new game. Wake up so we can play a new game." _He's whining. Oh my God. He's whining_. "I want to hear you screaming..." There's a loud crunching noise. A jolt of fear ripples through me and I force my arms under my body.

"Get the fuck away from him!" I cry, trying to shove myself up. But the world's spinning. Slipping away. I totter on my feet, slumping over the windowsill.

My eyes widen in horror.

It was a Kitchen. A nice, once-neat Kitchen. Now a wreck. Tsunade slumps against the doorframe, red in her pale hair. Orochimaru crouching over a figure on the floor. A small, bloodied, blond figure lying motionless. Unconscious. His clothes in shreds. Practically naked. His skin mottled with purples and reds. His arm at a funny angle. Blood.

So much blood.

Between his legs.

_Oh my God._

"You sick bastard!" The gun was only an arm's length away. "You fucking raped him!" my heart was hammering in my chest. I could hear sirens. See flashing blue. I grab the gun. My hands are shaking as I hold it up. The sound of footsteps running towards me are like thunder, merging with the roaring crescendo of my heart. Shouting. I think I hear my name being called.

My finger rests on the trigger.

Orochimaru's eyes widened.

He leaps up, a cry half-formed on his lips, arm outstretched.

One shot rings out.

**Bang.**

He crumples to the ground.

Somehow, before my knees give out, my brain registers I never pulled the trigger.

"Dad..."

**...**

**...**

**A/N: **

**I. Am. So. Very. Evil. **

**xxx**


	47. Chapter 46

Chapter Forty Six

"Dad... Itachi... Naruto... I..." And then I'm sick again across the already soiled, wet grass. Choking and spitting, I gasp for air, and my Dad reaches down and rubs my back in quick circles. His hands are shaking.

I recognise a paramedic kneeling down next to me.

"Itachi..." I gasp out "Tsunade... Naruto... see to... them..." I flick my hand out, shooing the man in the yellow high-viz jacket away. _Naruto needs me._ With one horrible, aching movement, I pull myself to my feet, Dad's arms wrapped around my back and shoulders. He shoots me a 'what the hell happened?' glare and I lean heavily on him. The paramedic kneels by Itachi, next to his two other companions.

"Any sign?" Dad speaks into his radio. I realise he's in uniform. That's rare. There are policemen in the building. I recognise Kisame and Deidara as they pass a window. They were looking in the wrong place.

"Kitchen." I groan. "In the Kitchen..."

Dad relays this information via his radio and a minute later the call;

"Tsunade-sama!" rings out through the broken window, followed by; "She's unconscious!" One of the paramedics leaps up, and follows an officer inside. Then;

"Fugaku-sama! It's your boy!"

And I'm tearing away, wrenching myself out of his arms. Away from my Dad and racing through the house, trying desperately to stay upright. To not trip over my feet. Naruto's name rings in my throat. A desperate mantra. Dad's running close behind. Shouting my name. Followed by another paramedic. I'm vaguely aware an ambulance just arrived. _I'm coming Naruto._

Corridors, so many corridors. _How big is Tsunade's house? Where's the Kitchen? _Dad overtakes me and pulls on my arm. _I'll be there in a minute, Naruto, hold on._

Dad falters in the doorway of the Kitchen. Taking in a long, gasped breath. I crash past him.

Tsunade is laid out by the door, being tended to by one of the paramedics. She seems to have a head wound, and is slowly coming round. Police fill the room. Orochimaru lays a few steps away. An officer standing over him. I grit my teeth in anger, but then I notice a tiny blond-haired bundle on the floor, and it melts away, replaced by the most intense fear I've felt in my life. Suddenly I don't care whether or not the bastard is dead or alive. Only one thing matter. One person...

"Naruto!" I'm at his side, pushing away Kisame and rolling my friend over, before even the paramedic can stop me. My father's frozen in the doorway. Staring into the chaos._ Naruto. _I run my hands over my blond friend's face, his lips, calling out his name, asking if he can hear me. _Please Naruto. Please. Please. Please. _There's so much blood. His eyes are closed. His body limp.

The paramedic reaches out to touch his chest, serious-faced, with his plasticy blue gloves glinting in the light. Then the boy groans. His eye lids flutter weakly. I call his name and...

His eyes snap open.

"No!" I'm shoved away from him by one hard push. "No!" he screams hysterically. Eyes wide and unseeing. "No! No! Get away from me! Don't touch me!" He was sobbing, huge great tears rolling down his face, his body jerking on the floor. Blood. So much blood. "Please!" He was worsening his injuries. My eyes wide, and my heart pounding, I reach out my hand towards him. _Stop this._

"Naru..."

"No!" The hand is slapped away, and it recoils as if burnt. He's gasping for air. Terrified. So scared he can't breathe.

"Naruto, it's me, it's Sasuke. It's ok; I'm not going to..."

"Get away from me!" he screams and shoves my shoulder.

It feels like a knife has just been plunged into my chest.

"Naruto..." He's coughing blood. Oh my god. _Naruto. Naruto. Naruto._

"Get away!"

And the paramedic inserts a needle into his arm, pushing down the plunger. His eyes widen in shock; then roll up in his head. He slumps back into my arms.

"Naruto..." I mumble, staring down shocked at the bloodied boy in my arms. The paramedic lays his limbs straight. Checks his breathing. His pulse. Calls to his partner. Another paramedic is there. Solemn and grim faced.

I think I'm going to be sick again. The white noise is back in front of my eyes. Static spreading to my ears. I feel all the blood drain from my face with a fizzling sensation.

And that's when I fall back, and the world fades away.

"Sasuke!"

**...**

**...**

**A/N: **

***Lenle sneakily avoids readers who have somehow obtained (and are giving chase with) big pointy sticks; similar to the ones used against Orochimaru and Kai, in previous chapters, and runs for her life...***

**Tehe.**

**Sorry about the cliffies ;)  
><strong>

**Hope you liked this chappie all the same :3 x**


	48. Chapter 47

Chapter Forty Seven

I wake in hospital.

In a white, soft bed. Hooked up to machines. A bandage wrapped around my aching skull.

I blink blearily into the bright light, and find my mum sitting by my side, clutching my hand.

"Hello sweetheart." She presses a soft kiss to the back of my wrist. "How you feeling?" I merely opt to groan incoherently as a response. She smiles tenderly at me, brushing dark strands of hair carefully away from my eyes. A fingertip brushes my forehead, and pain explodes behind my eyes. A few appallingly long moments later, her worried face swims back into view.

"You really are an idiot, foolish little brother." I turn my head to face the other side, then really wish I hadn't, as my vision wavers, and I have to squeeze my eyes shut. The pain is horrible, but when I open them again, Itachi's there.

"'Tachi..." I mumble. "Wha' 'appen?"

"You, Stupid, went and bashed your head on a window frame, and _then_ thought it would be a tremendous idea to just skip around just looking for trouble!"

"Or so we've been told." My mum adds lightly onto the end. Itachi sighs impatiently.

"You needed seven bloody great stitches!"

"Itachi! Language!" Mum hisses. She gently slaps his free wrist and shakes her head with a exasperated sigh. I try to roll my eyes, but it hurts. I notice his other arm hangs in a sling. His shoulder bandaged tightly with crisp white strips of cloth.

_Now why was that again?_

"Naruto!" It all rushes back, and I attempt to leap upright, but Itachi pushes me firmly back into the pillows. My head goes foggy again and I groan miserably. "Where's 'Ruto?" I clench my eyes shut to block out the blinding lights.

"Room next door." Itachi mutters, but then refuses to say more. "Now get some sleep."

Despite my protests, my eyelids feel achy and heavy, and pretty soon I'm fast asleep and probably snoring.

...

When I wake again, Mum's asleep in the chair next to me, and Itachi's vanished.

Her hand rests gently over my own and I curl my fingers around hers. It's comforting. I feel tired and sick and I have the world's worst headache. I reach up a hand to brush the bandages and feel the accompanying jolt of pain burn through my temples like a raging fire. It makes me, and in turn my mother, jump. She rubs sleepily at her eyes, and flicks back her long, dark hair, realising with a smile I'm awake.

"How you feeling?" She asks again, still half-asleep.

"Stu'pid question." I mutter and she laughs merrily. The sound like the sweetest chime of clear, crystalline bells. It's refreshing. She looks more awake now. "Where's 'Tachi?" I ask, and at this her smile falls. She runs her hand worriedly over her features.

"With Naruto." She whispers. "He's... not awake yet." _Not awake?_

"How long...?" The world still feels disconnected, obscured, reality seeming so very far away.

"You've only been here half a day." She smiles slightly, and I sigh. We've _not been here too long then. I guess that's probably positive._

"How is he?" I manage to murmur though my disjoined haze. _What were they drugging me with? It didn't seem to be helping too much with the pain. Then again..._

"He's... He'll... he's going to be just fine, sweetheart." She attempts a reassuring smile, which warps into a pained grimace. "His injures don't seem to be as bad as anticipated... but..."

"Mum!" Itachi just stuck his head round the doorframe. "You're needed next door." Her eyes become wide round saucers, the whites standing out around a tiny dot of black. And her fingertips brush her lips, a soft, surprised 'o' sound coming from them.

"Naruto." She whispers, and stands in one fluid motion, sweeping from the room without a backwards glance. Which scares me witless. Itachi slumps in her chair. _Naruto... was he ok? Awake? Alive...?_ Ouch. The world spun momentarily. Itachi had always said that if 'I thought too hard, I'd hurt myself'. I allow myself a small chuckle at the irony. Itachi glares down at me. _Ok. So not a time to be laughing. _Anyhow; _it hurt._

"Naruto?" I ask, and my brother stares at me for a moment before sighing. As if he's not properly registered I was awake. He seemed distracted.

"Woke up, saw a doctor, started screaming, and got put back to sleep again." Itachi always did have such a way with words.

"W...Wha... What?" I stammer, gaping at him. He sighs again, running his hand over his face in the same manner mum had. Guess it's habitual in our family. Or genetic or something. Everything seems tinted with humour all of a sudden. I suppress a chuckle. _Really? What are they drugging me with?_

"I'm not repeating myself little brother. You heard." He frowns. I had hoped my laugh would have gone unnoticed. Apparently it had not. Itachi's scowl deepens. It didn't seem right to be laughing after all... _not when..._ Suddenly the hilarity dissipated and I was left with an aching sense of fear.

"Oh." I say, for lack of better response. It feels like something is burning away my insides. I remember how Naruto had looked at me, not a few hours ago. How scared he was. Looking straight through me. The burning feeling intensified, and it felt like someone had grabbed my heart, and given it a cruel twist in my chest.

"Sasuke..." some of what I was feeling must have showed on my face, because Itachi was leaning over me with a terrible concerned expression that looked so horribly out of place on his features. I didn't realise he even owned an expression like that. I decided at once I hated that look, and never wanted to see it again.

"He'll be ok, right?" I ask, and wince as that expression of his intensifies.

"Yeah." But he didn't sound convinced. "We'll see he gets better. Help him through this..."

That was the moment Tsunade walked in. A bandage around her head, scowling fitfully. She was fuming.

"I..." I began.

"Shut it, Uchiha." She growls, and I quickly close my mouth. Then she looks over at me and her expression softens. "Sorry." She slides into the chair on my left. "How you feeling?" I groan fitfully in response. I was getting _really_ sick of that question. "No so great then?" she laughs and turns to Itachi, a hard frown half-forming on her face. "I just talked to your father."

"We did all we could to..." Itachi started, seeing where this was going.

"Ha!" she chokes "That's what he said!" and her hand shoots up to a green necklace hanging around her throat. _Naruto's necklace_.

...

_I was trying to run away._

_To get away._

_I had to run._

_Flee._

_But I was running on the spot._

_Up and down._

_Up and down._

_My feet._

_Running._

_But there was no escape._

_I was scared._

_So scared._

_His hands snaking in from behind me._

_Touching me._

_No. No. No. Stop it. No._

_Please._

_I was begging him. My god. I was begging him to stop._

"_Sasuke-kun's not coming for you Naruto." _

_Not going to get here. Not before...?_

_Or not at all? Had he just abandoned me? Did he even know I was here? Sasuke._

"_No one's going to save you. Not this time." _

_No one. No one at all._

"_Mummy and Daddy are dead."_

_Dead._

_Dead and gone._

"_Everyone you love dies or hates you, don't they Naruto-kun?"_

_Dies or hates me._

_Hates me._

_Why did they have to die?_

"_It's better like this; you and me."_

_No... No. No. No. Repeating over and over like a mantra. But the hands were still there._

"_Let's play a new game."_

_Touching. Touching. Touching._

_No one's coming to help._

_No! No! Get away from me! Don't touch me!_

_I'm trapped all alone._

_Alone._

_Alone._

Locked in the never-ending nightmares, Naruto writhed on the bed. Unaware of the gentle hand of his best friend's mother covering his own. Or her husband's resting on his shoulder.

"Naruto, shh sweetie. It's going to be alright. It's all going to be alright..."

**...**

**...**

**A/N: **

**... is that a dot on my screen above that comma? Or is it a semi-colon? *Deletes and replaces comma*... oh... it was just muck... *wipes screen*... nevermind... XD**

**Well, there you go. Lenle's not as proud of this chapter as she'd hoped she'd be. And you'll have to forgive any mistakes I'm shattered! At least it's longer! :3**

**Anyway, tell me what you think! :D**

***Goes off to nurse headache and sleep***


	49. Chapter 48

Chapter Forty Eight

Apparently Tsunade had had a go at my Dad for not 'looking after Naruto properly'. She was furious. Terrified.

If she wasn't by my bedside, she was by his. Constantly fussing over him. This wire and that wire. Checking his stats.

I felt awful when I first saw him.

It was like going back to all that again.

I swayed on my feet and Itachi tightened his grip. Supporting me into a chair. He'd all but carried me over here, after I insisted I 'had to see him'. To reassure myself Naruto was still very much...

I check the heart monitor, and watch the steady breathing of the pale figure in the bed.

Alive.

...

Orochimaru was alive.

Which made me want to go and kill the bastard myself. I nearly had when I was told. But Itachi caught me round the waist and dragged me back. Orochimaru was in a heavily guarded room down the hall. Handcuffed to the bed. Itachi had told me with a smirk. He had a large gun-shot wound in his chest, but he was perfectly conscious for the moment. Under police questioning. From my father and his partner Ibiki. I grinned at their promise of delivering the snake living hell for what he'd done. I knew together they'd easily carry it off. Hell, Ibiki was enough to scare anyone to death. But the snake was still alive...

He'd probably got off worse for it. I smirk. And at the very least he would be able to confirm the charges of rape. He wouldn't be able to deny them. Not with the overwhelming evidence. He'd be charged for his other offenses too. And for his alliance with the known criminal Kai. Itachi told me the snake-bastard had laughed when they'd told him that.

The man was insane.

Completely insane.

He'd hurt my Naruto. And he was going to pay.

...

"Naruto?" I'm the one sitting by his bed when he next stirs. Slowly slipping into the land of the conscious. I push my chair back slightly, avoiding all contact. His eyes flutter open. Then he spots me and he jerks away, wide eyed, howling in pain. He'd noticed me. It was always the same reaction. To any of us. _Feared._

"Naruto. It's ok. It's ok." I tried my best to speak calmly and reassuringly. My head throbs. I want to reach out and touch him. To hold him. But I can't. He flinches at the sound of my voice and curls up in a tight ball. His knees up to his chin. His arms around his head. Shaking. He's not under his covers. The contact freaks him out. The heating in the room was turned up uncomfortably hot as a result. I pull at my thick t-shirt. Too warm. "Naruto." We sit like this for minutes, maybe hours. I don't bother to glace away to see the time. Feel like years. Doctors observing through the glass. Pens to their clipboards. Watching his stats. We'd done this test over and over again. With different people by his side. His closest friends and family. Us.

Tsunade is with them this time; looking through the glass in her white lab coat. Fists clenched white and her knuckles like porcelain. Her face drawn between anger at not being allowed in, and worry. _Fearing._

"Naruto..." I try again, sighing. I can feel the time itching as it passes. Anxiety building in my chest. _Fear._ "Naruto..." Slowly, oh so slowly, over a number of minuets, his body relaxes. Tensing every now and again at a loud noise, or a movement in the wires he was hooked up to. He shudders at the sound of my voice. Finally, when I've given up, and think he's asleep like usual, a tiny voice asks;

"Sasuke?"

I jump in surprise, and he screams aloud at the sudden movement, burying his face in his arms and wrenching his limbs in. Trapping his knees between his arms and chest in an iron grip. His heart rate doubles. He gasps for air. Hyperventilating. Sobbing. His voice raw and broken. Head pressed to his knees. Tense. Afraid. _Fearful._

The doctors scribble like crazy on their pads. Tsunade looks ready to break in. I'm about to get up to move, guilt and fear flooding through me, but a white coat flicks his hand to say 'stay sitting down moron'. I try and relax into the chair. _Like that'd be possible._ I hope it means we're making progress. _Huh. Progress._

"Naruto..." at the sound of my voice, he tightens his grip, letting out a small whimper of fear. His fingers and white and bony where they clutch desperately at the fabric of his hospital gown.

_Naruto..._

...

Four sessions later, I feel we've made little... or no progress.

I'd sat in the chair for all of them. Being stared at. Overseen. Feeling like all these people; Mum, Dad, Tsunade, Itachi... hell even Kiba and them, were all counting on me. They needed me to bring him back from this for them. _Hell._ I needed to bring him back for me.

The small, shaking wreck in the hospital bed was taking its toll on me. It wasn't the cheerful, joking boy I'd once know. He was a shell. A cracked visage. I barely recognised him. His hair paler. His eyes closed. His whisker marks cruel and dark against whitened skin.

Hopelessness overwhelmed me.

"He's not going to get better." I wasn't sure if I was talking to him, the doctors, or myself. "Is he?"

I was met by silence.

Then...

"We'll make him better." And Itachi was there, with his hand on my shoulder, dark circles under his eyes... and a hot chocolate for me in his hand.

That was when burst into tears.

**...**

**...**

**A/N: **

**So I didn't kill Orochimaru after all. Oh well... subjecting him to Ibiki is more evil. Death would be too easy right? *evil laugh* Plus, we'd have no-one to chase with big pointy sticks now would we? XD**

**Did you like reading teh chapter?**

**I liked writing it.**

**:D :D :D**

***Goes off to plot Sasu-chan's meltdown* Flaffle Laffle! :3**


	50. Chapter 49

Chapter Forty Nine

I was at home.

Sat on his bed. Orange covers in place. Stain on the carpet.

Overwhelmed by everything.

A cup of hot chocolate had gone cold on my bedside table. It sat in an orange mug. Next to the empty blue one I'd drank a couple of hours ago. It been dark, bitter and strong. How I like drinking hot chocolate. The squirty cream on the full one had deflated and curdled. The marshmallows sank. The sugar formed a crystallised ring around the edges.

The one I'd made for Naruto.

But he wasn't here.

_Would he ever be here again?_

_Would he ever...?_

My cold fingers are burrowing into my pockets for warmth, when they brush against an object. The scissors Naruto had had were in these jeans. I must have shoved them there to hide them from him. I curl my hand around them, and pull them out. Not sure what I'm doing. I stare at them for a long moment. The light glints silver off the blades, and is absorbed by the black handles.

I open them, unthinkingly, and place the blade against the inner of my wrist. I sigh. The flesh is pale against the shining metal. It feels nice. I imagine drawing the blade slowly across it, ripping into the fragile skin. I picture the red ribbon of blood that would slide from my veins, how it would slip down my wrists, then my hands, and drip off my finger tips, pooling, dark and shiny, on the floor. I smile slightly, that would ruin the carpet even more. I feel slightly hysterical. A weight of something heavy and cold felt like it was pressing down on my shoulders, my back, my chest. I ached all over. Especially my head. Breathing hurt.

_Naruto. Naruto. Naruto._

_Is this how he felt?_

I look back to the blade, and flip my wrist over, so the cold metal is pressed against the back of my forearm.

It didn't matter anymore. Nothing mattered. Naruto was in hospital. I'm sick of the worry. The fear. I just wanted it to all go away. Something to make it better.

Anything.

So I cut.

...

I curse and sigh and throw things in the morning. When the sunlight is bright, friendly and the world seems better. The kind of day that reminded me of Naruto. Jumpy and bubbly and full of ridiculous energy and light. The kind of day when I can believe he'll be ok. That we'll get through this. I curse again at my own stupidity.

I stare at the thin red stripes on the back of my arm. Scabbed over and shiny. I grumble my way into the shower. Letting the warm water run over the wounds and thinking exactly how stupid I am as it stings and tingles. It doesn't really hurt. I realise. Not that much.

_And it didn't help at all._

Maybe it felt better last night, but not now...

Not now, when the guilt and weakness press down on me and make me feel sick.

This was all so wrong.

I step out the shower feeling a little light headed, and wrap a big fluffy white towel around my shoulders. I rub away the water on my face and back, then dab at my arm. Any little left over trails of red, which had dried and stuck to my arm, peel away. They stain small red patches on the towel and leave just the thin, red lines on my arm. They'd healed over in the night, but remained livid against my pale skin.

I curse again.

_What would Itachi say?_

_Mum? Dad?_

I rub an exasperated hand over my face. _Shit._

I pull a tubigrip out my draw, and slip it over my arm. Wincing as the elasticised bandage scrapes over the cuts. I'd got it when I sprained my wrist a couple of years ago.

I could say I twisted it this time too. Lie. Pretend. Fake.

And they'd never know.

_But... maybe..._ I realised_. I wanted them to know._

It was all Naruto-this, and Naruto-that. All everyone cared about was Naruto. All I cared about was Naruto. Leaving me bitter and shaken and awful. I felt like crap.

I felt alone.

Like no-one cared about me. Cared how I was feeling. If I was alright. I'd had to watch the aftermath of my best friend being raped. Watch as he fell apart. Feeling helpless. I felt ignored. Shoved to the side. Unimportant. I felt it should be all about me. More about me. Even a little bit. I wanted to be noticed.

I felt so, so selfish. Horrible and cruel and I didn't want to feel like that. To feel alone. It felt like betraying him. Felt wrong. I wanted to be strong and brave and everything Naruto needs me to be. Everything everyone expects me to be.

_But I can't._

I'm not that strong at all.

_I can't._

I bury my face in my hands and sob.

_It's not fair._

...

Mum frowns when she sees the bandage on my wrist, and asks me about it. I tell her how I 'tripped over my rug and landed on my wrist funny'. I grimace; it had been the first thing that came into my head. I say the limb's 'just a bit twisted and sore' and 'it'll be fine soon'. I give them a reassuring smile to try to get them to believe it. Thankfully, she just laughs and shakes her head, and calls me a silly sausage. Ruffling the back of my hair. Well away from the nearly-healed wound obtained in my scuffle with Orochimaru.

I feel the lie is weedy. Weak. Pathetic.

_Like me._ A little voice in my head adds before I shoot it down, give myself a little shake and tell it to _just shut the hell up_.

Dad asks if I'd like him to take a look at it. I laugh and tell him 'it's fine'. I've never been so thankful of anything when he drops it. Itachi eyes me suspiciously over his toast. 'It's fine.' I repeat. 'Fine.'

_But it's not._

_Not at all._

I excuse myself from the table. Forgetting my own nibbled slice of blackened toast. And missing the worried looks my family exchange.

...

We visited Naruto again. Me sitting beside him. Doing this test and that test. And watching him writhe and scream. And hearing the murmurs of the doctors. The psychotherapist.

Psychotherapist. I hate that word.

When we get home I take a shower until it's late and dark, and my skin prunes under the unrelenting water.

I collapse onto the bed.

The darkness of the room surrounding me like a shroud. I pull out my laptop to e-mail Kiba to ask what we did in the lessons I missed today.

But it's still there.

The darkness.

It's closing in on every side. Choking me. The crude white glow of my laptop screen as it loads cuts against it. The covers of my bed feel too hot. My skin feels too hot. I rub wearily at it. At my arm.

I know its gone midnight...

It's cold. So so cold.

I can see the veins in my hands. Ugly hands. Wrinkled hands. _Dirty. Weak. _A part of me_. _Me._ Dirty. Weak. Cold._

_Hot cold._

_A freezing burn. A sweltering frost._

I have a headache. It throbs behind my ears, blocking one. It's gone all like it does in an aeroplane... feels clogged-up. Weird. My headache bands round the back of my skull, and tightens to leave prickling heat on my forehead. I feel a bit sick really.

I can't sleep.

But I'm exhausted.

The thoughts all whirr in my head like some over-loaded machine.

I just want it all to go away.

All this... feeling.

It's so dark in here. _What with it being night an' all._ I add silently, and give a dry laugh. I feel on edge. Hyper-aware. Dull. Empty. Weird.

Dark.

And lonely. Such a feeling of oppressing loneliness. The laptop light makes the lines stand out, livid red against my white skin. 'Scars remind us that the past was real'. But they do something else too. They remind us of the pain of the past. Pain we don't want to face again. But pain I know I'll have to... because _it doesn't stop, and it never will_. An ongoing bloody vicious circle.

In the darkness.

I find the scissors again.

This was all so wrong. _But so right._

**...**

**...**

**A/N:**

**Awwwwh! Sasuke!**

**And I missed a day updating! Whatever shall we do! XD**

**... Ok... so I'll try and upload two tonight instead! Oh the benefits of short chapters! :D**

**Hope you liked this chappie! Drop me a review! Pointers would be nice (don't be too evil please! I may have to set my ninja squirrels on you!) :D xxx  
><strong>


	51. Chapter 50

Chapter Fifty

"Sasuke!" I turn, rubbing sleep out of my eyes, to see Itachi on the stairs. He's holding a letter, scanning it with his eyes. It looks official. The blue logo of the Konoha General Hospital in the top corner. "They want Naruto to see the psychotherapist." He surmises, and subtly eyes my bandaged wrist. I feel a rush of anger at the look. Stupid Itachi. Thinking he knows everything. "Do you think it's a good idea?" He's asking.

"Whatever." And I turn away. Annoyed. Grumpy. Sick of all this.

"Sasuke..." he starts again. "Is something wrong?" I huff incoherently in response. I felt wound up like a tightly coiled spring. A clockwork toy. Ready to snap. Break. _Stupid Itachi. _I grit my teeth at him._ Thinks he knows it all. _I whirl around, slamming my bedroom door behind me. But Itachi opens it, and walks to where I slump on my bed. "You haven't been to school at all this week." He sits down and touches my shoulder. I shrug his hand off irritably and turn away. He looks concerned. I hate that expression. Hate it. "I hope you're asking Kiba for the work."

"Of course I'm bloody asking Kiba." I snap at him. It's a lie. I hadn't asked Kiba for any of the work. My brother tenses and moves away at my tone. "Get lost" I growl. I just felt so angry. I wasn't even sure why.

"But I just wanted to..." he looks hurt. Betrayed. Upset.

"Out!" I roar and give him a good shove outside. _Stupid Itachi._

I sit on my bed and take a few deep breaths. My hands are shaking. I feel a wreck.

I pull the scissors out my pocket, sobbing. I roll up my trouser leg. I need somewhere easily concealable. Somewhere no one will see.

But it doesn't help.

It never helps.

_Maybe I should cut deeper?_

_Leave this pointless life behind._

_Who'd miss me anyway?_

But then I look at the blood running down my hands and I realise what I've done. I think of Mum and Dad and Itachi and Kiba and... Gods... everyone... one after the other. And Naruto.

But I still feel so _alone_.

I drop the scissors.

Blood on the blades.

And stumble to the bathroom to grab a shower and some plasters.

_Shit._

...

"Get better Naruto." I press my forehead to the glass of his window. _Four weeks._ My cold breath condensing slightly against the warm surface with each puff. He sitting under the covers now. Leaning against a mound of pillows. White and still. Hair a pale blond shock. Dim blue eyes focused wearily on the ceiling. Darting around every once in a while. Checking the shadows. Counting them.

The therapist said it would help to count things. To keep him calm. I didn't really understand it. Or if it was working.

Week Five.

We'd been doing tests. With people in his room. He was slowly getting used to it. Trying to find his old humour. Talking with his psychotherapist about all that had happened. But he'd flinch away, not touch anyone. Not stay near people for long. He was just so scared. Of everything. Of everyone_. Of me._

"You may go in." The nurse observing him today smiles prettily at me, and it takes me a minute or two to realise its Hinata. But I can't muster the effort to talk to her properly. To ask about how things were with her and Kiba. I give a small, weary smile of recognition, and shrug her hand off my shoulder when she lays it there.

...

I knock softly on the door. Three knocks. Steady and careful. As I'd been told. As I'd done every time. So he'd know it was a friend outside. He sits bolt upright, his whole body jerking violently, and stares wildly at it. His heart rate speeding up on the monitor.

"Who is it?" His voice is small and shaky. I barely hear it through the door. His eyes are fixed on the little panel in the wood that my face can just about be seen through. He looks scared. I don't think he's realises who I am at all.

"It's Sasuke." I poke my head around the door frame so he can see it's definitely me. "Can I come in?" He stares at me for a long moment, blinking, then;

"Yeah." He gives himself a little shake. "Sorry." It's as if he's telling himself _not to be so silly. This was Sasuke. There was nothing to worry about._

I didn't miss the way his heart rate on the screen was faster than normal. And how his body stayed tensed up. His eyes fixed on me. I wanted to laugh and make a joke about not making any sudden movements. It was awful.

"How are you?" I try and force a grin onto my face "Bet you're sick of hearing that." I try to inject cheerfulness into my voice. Sound happy. Be positive. Don't upset him.

But the dark, cold feeling, that had settled like snow over my heart, was pressing down bitter and heavy in my chest.

"Ok, I guess." he mumbles. His eyes darting around the room. He starts counting ceiling tiles. I watch him for a moment, before he sighs and his eyes flicks to me. "130." He says, relaxing slightly.

"What?" I stare at him confused.

"One hundred and thirty tiles. On the ceiling." He adds for clarification. "Same as last time. And the time before. And the time before that. I'm getting sick of counting them." He tries a shaky laugh and waves a quivering arm at the tiles. Then jumps as a machine bleeps. "Sorry." He apologises and I'm not sure if he's talking to me or the machine. He shakes himself, staring wide eyed at the device, checking and double checking that it was, in fact, that that made the noise, and something else. _Someone else._ I notice his hands are trembling. His eyes roam the room. Checking. Seeing. Worrying. Then he fixes me with a long look. "Sasuke."

"Eh? Huh? Wha?" is my _intelligent_ response; I was too busy pretending to have been staring at the ceiling, like I was trying to count the tiny tiles, so he didn't notice me watching him. He chuckles dryly.

"Sit down, the chair's not going to eat you." I shoot him a thin smile and slip into the seat. One of those lumpy green ones. I slowly rub a hand over my face. Keeping my movements slow and simple. "Sorry." He says again. "I hate this too." His voice is quiet and fragile, and he's counting the wires he's hooked up too. I think it's less than before. But I'm not sure. "Sorry." I wish he'd stop asking for forgiveness. He'd done nothing wrong. It was annoying. _Naruto..._

A dark, purple bruise blossoms its way across his face, covering one set of whisker marks. Stark and deep against his pale skin. There are more. On his neck. His arms. His chest. Small cuts and scrapes. Disappearing under the covers that pooled at his waist and covered his legs. He shifts uncomfortably at the contact. His eyes are wide and nervous, like a startled deer, but they lack their usual lustre. His blond hair seems paler than usual. As if he's been washed out like a dirty rag and left to dry in the wind.

"Naruto..." He jumps at the sound of my voice with a small squeak. Shrinking back. He'd been counting tiles. Distracted.

"Sorry." He apologises again, and swallows hard.

"Stop it." I growl, and he blinks at me. Then his eyes well up with tears. _Oh no. No. No. No. Naruto..._ I feel my heart break. Shatter like glass in my chest as they spill over. My name a burble on his lips.

"What? It's not my fault I'm like this!" his heart rate had doubled; the machine an annoying high pitched bleeping in my ear. Tears rolling down his face and dripping softly off his chin. I notice distractedly that his hair is sticking up funny on one side where he'd been leaning on the pillows. Bright red splots of colour rise on each cheek. Sickening against the pale skin. "I'm sorry! Sasuke. So sorry..." And he sobs into his hands. Coughs. Chokes on his tears. His body jerking at any small noise.

"No. Naruto... no... I didn't mean... I..." He flinches at every word, letting out a small cry. _Of fear? Pain?_ "I just meant you should stop apologising so much. I... I know it's not your fault..."

"Sasuke." He howled. Snuffling and rubbing his palms against his cheeks. "Sasuke!" And he... launches himself at me._ What? _I found a bundle of skinny blond in my arms. _What?_ All bones and limbs. Arms tight around my waist. Pressing his face into my t-shirt. Soggy. _What?_ "Sasuke. Sasuke. Sasuke." He sobs into my chest. _What?_ My brain's gone fuzzy. Unable to register what's happening. I sit there. Stoic and shocked. A wire is digging into my side. He was... hugging me. Touching me. Physical contact! _What...?_ The doctor observing him speaks hurriedly into a radio. My arms slowly relax and loop around his back. _What?_ Rubbing small circles. As I tell him _it's ok. It's all ok. Naruto..._ "I was so scared." He sobs like a child. Howls. Screams. Clutching at my t-shirt and winding his bony fingers into the fabric. _It's ok. It's ok._ "Sasuke. Sasuke. Sasuke." He leans heavily against me. His breathing sharp against my own. Arms around me. His head buried in the dip of his collar bone. His cold nose pressed against my skin so that his breath tickles. The doctor scribbles like crazy on a notepad. Tsunade leaps into view, out of breath. She must have been called. She stares wide-eyed through the window. His psychotherapist arrives a moment later. I rest my cheek against the top of his head and whisper over and over that _it'll be ok_. The sobs slow to gentle sniffles. His heart rate calms. And he rubs his face against the rough fabric of my t-shirt. Slowly, oh so slowly, his grip loosens and his eyelids become gradually hazier and heavier. "S'kay..."

And that's how Tsunade sees us when she sneaks in to double check his stats and wires, almost an hour later. Naruto fast asleep. And cradled against my chest.

...

I tuck his covers in, push wispy blond strands away from his forehead, and for some reason press a soft kiss on his brow. Like Tsunade would. His breathing is even and peaceful in sleep. Tsunade says it's the calmest she's seen him. I smile. A proper smile. A true one. One I thought I'd lost.

The one Naruto brings out.

**...**

**...**

**A/N:**

**CHAPTER FIFTY!**

**When'd it get this long?**

**Big thanks to all ye for reading this far, oh and to the peeps who reviewed! :D :D :D**

**(P.S. Ok... so I have no idea what the after effects of rape might be or how they'd be treated... so I made some stuff up... *shrugs*... sounded feasible to me...**

**P.P.S. Oh! And I'm pretty sure I pinched the counting idea off something... no ideas what...)**

**:3 xxx**


	52. Chapter 51

Chapter Fifty One

When I get home again I slump on Naruto's bed. Twisting my head to the side, out of the smothering pillows, I see his hot chocolate still sitting there. Cold and curdled. I stare at it a few moments, then, with a sigh, I get up and tip it down the en-suite sink. It leaves a scummy mess in the bowl and the plughole. Milk, sugar, cream and the brown of hot chocolate splattering across the white porcelain. I sigh again and turn the tap on. The water jets out, and I turn down the pressure, watching as it curdles with the milk as it washes down.

Light streams in the fixed window, and I roughly tug the curtains across to hide it. It had been hurting my head. I shiver, and then touch the radiator. It was on, pumping out heat. That's weird. The room seems colder without its usual occupant. I stumble over to his bed, and collapse onto the orange covers. I ache all over. Cold and numb. My eyelids flop closed, and pretty soon I'm fast asleep.

...

We were going to the hospital again today.

I was in the car. Hair sleep-tousled, my eyes barely open. We were on our way.

Itachi's chatting loudly with Dad over something or other, and Mum's in the driver's seat. Itachi leans over me to pull a tissue out the glove box before he sneezes. I clap twice, because that's what Naruto does for who-knows-what reason, and murmur 'bless you'. He thanks me and scrubs at his nose with a tissue. The car splutters loudly to a halt at a set of traffic lights set on red.

We wait.

The car chugs off again.

Slowly.

Far too slowly.

...

Were sat in the waiting room. I was bored out my mind. Sick of all this.

Naruto was making progress they said.

Getting better.

I was too tired to think about it much, but it left a warm fuzzy feeling in my chest whenever I did. A feeling of hope.

I get up, telling mum I'm going to get a drink from the vending machine. She hands me a pound coin with a soft smile, and a ruffle of my short, dark spikes. I wander down the corridor, my trainers squeaking on the lino tiles; I'm not really sure where I'm going. I see people; doctors, patients, nurses; everywhere.

A lady sobs hysterically to my left, clutching her husband hand. It's a cancer, a stern faced doctor says. A boy, with one arm in a cast is handed a packet of sweets by his mother. A big, toothy grin, all too reminiscent of a certain blond-haired dobe, is splattered across his face as he thanks her and rips open the colourful packaging.

The queue at the vending machine is long and I tag on the end. I buy myself a mars bar and a can of coke. It's then I notice that the man before me had left his change. I pick it up and look around, seeing him just turning the corner. He seems familiar. Like someone I know but can't quite place. From the quick glance I obtain, I can see he's a fairly large guy, quite old, with long white hair that spikes out in a way I thought only Naruto's could. Familiar. He's wearing a doctor's coat over a shirt and tie.

"Hey! Mister! Wait!" and I chase after him, his change jangling against the can in my hand. He turns another corner, and I have to spin around a girl with an IV drip like a hurricane to avoid hitting her. I apologise over my shoulder, and keep running, trying to not trip over my feet. I drop my Mars Bar, and skid to a halt to pick it up. Snatching the Mars Bar off the tiles, I'm up and running again. I swerve round a pale nurse, calling out after him again, but I don't think he hears. He seems so familiar. I have to duck and dodge and weave to avoid the people in the corridors, and I just notice, over the heard of a balding man, as he knocks three times on the door of a room. A very familiar room.

Naruto's room.

He goes in, and approaches the figure in the bed. _Naruto._ I sink down in a chair outside the door. The lumpy green fabric familiar and comforting. I hear a young, wavering voice inside call out;

"Ero-sennin!"

Followed by;

"Shudd'up brat. It's the great and magnificent Jiraiya-sama to you!" and the man laughs; a great booming laugh. I realise I had seen the man before. Plenty of times. Had discussions with him myself. But never really paid any attention to who he was. He was Jiraiya. Tsunade's brother.

Naruto's psychotherapist.

Naruto laughs softly as something he said, and I peek through the glass. He's counting the tiles on the ceiling again. And Jiraiya sits by his bed. They're chatting amiably. Like two old friends. I suppose they are. I made a mental note to invite him with Tsunade round for Sunday roast next time; that is if Naruto ever gets... when Naruto gets better.

"I'm glad." Naruto says, and I realise I hadn't been listening. "I'm glad he's in Prison... is that bad?" He asks, turning sparkling blue eyes on the man who may as well have been his grandfather.

"No." And Jiraiya smiles, looking for all the world like he just wanted to ruffle the boy's hair and pull him into a hug. He just looked so fragile. So broken. So wrong.

_Naruto._

"I think I hate him for it. How he... you know." Naruto's fists are clenched white in his covers. Jiraiya sighs loudly.

"Raped you." He runs a hand over his face "You need to come to acceptance with it. Come on, you'll never recover if you can't say the word 'rape', Naruto."

"R...raped... m...me..." And suddenly he bursts into tears. His face pressed into his hands.

"Naruto..." the old man sadly regards his charge and reaches out of unthinkingly wrap a comforting arm around his shoulders. Naruto flinches away before he's even close, with a loud sob.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He repeats over and over again like a mantra, between cries. "I hate this. Hate it! Maybe it would be better if he had killed me!"

My heart clenches in my chest. I feel sick. My breathing stuttering.

Naruto was a mess.

No-one should have to feel like that. Never. Ever. I wanted to wrap him in my arms, and protect him from everything. He shouldn't have to feel like that. Not Naruto. He didn't deserve this. It was all so wrong and horrible and...

Not like Naruto at all.

Making progress?

All they were doing was making him cry.

I leave the change on the windowsill, and storm away.

No-one should make him cry.

...

I leave the hospital fuming and walk home. Texting Itachi so they knew where I was. I let myself in the front door, and go straight to Naruto's room. I'm a mess. A jumble of broken, mismatched emotions. A wreck. I realise I'm shaking.

I flop down on the bed.

By the time Itachi checks in on his little brother that evening, he's fast asleep.

...

It had been going on like this for so long.

I couldn't be bothered to get up. To eat. Food was tasteless and dull. So much effort. Too much effort. Talking to people was a waste of time. I couldn't be bothered. My body felt heavy. I didn't want to drag it off my bed and downstairs.

"Stop being lazy, little brother. And come downstairs. We're having a roast." Itachi pokes his head round the door, and snorts when he sees me sprawled on my bed. "Baka. What are you doing?" I grunt unintelligible, and pull the pillow over my head. He laughs. "Get up moron." And leaves, slamming the door behind him, and thundering down the stairs.

I drag myself up with a groan and realise that, although it's mid-day, I'm not yet dressed. I can't bring myself to care that I'm in my PJ's. I pull my navy dressing gown on over the top of them, and I lumber downstairs. Mum fixes me with a stern look.

"Why aren't you dressed yet, Sasuke?" she tuts and hands me my plate. Roast chicken. I shrug and slump down at the table. Ignoring my father discussing something about work with Itachi, I stab a carrot and bring it to my lips. It's bland. Tasteless. Awful.

_Orange._

I sigh. Chewing the mouthful. Just wanting to go back to bed. Itachi and Dad were so loud.

Annoying.

Then the phone rang.

Shrill, irritating and cutting through my thoughts like a knife through butter. My Mum answers it in a loud cheery voice, and chats amiably to the person on the other end. She laughs at something they say. Beaming over at her family. _How can she look that happy?_ I scowl. I finish my meal and drop my cutlery onto my plate. The clatter makes my head ache. I push my chair back and stand.

Finding an aspirin in the cupboard, I down it without water, and lumber back upstairs. Itachi calls after me, maybe something about pudding, but I don't hear properly.

I miss the person on the other end of the phone being put on loud speaker, relaying their message, and my family cheering in the dining room.

I miss the good news.

_Naruto was coming home._

**...**

**...**

**A/N:**

**Oh Sasuke!**

**Urk... Lenle is so tired... I'm surprised this chapter makes any sense what so ever... that is to say... urm... it does make sense right...?  
><strong>

**Only a couple of chappies left to go peeps! Who'd be up for a more SASUNARU-ey sequel (not Yaoi)?**

**Thanks for reading! Drop Lenle a review if you've liked it so far! :D xxx**


	53. Chapter 52

Chapter Fifty Two

I hate this.

I can't think. My brain feels numb. I don't want to be here. On his bed. Knowing he's suffering. I felt so helpless. So wrong. So horrible.

So... empty.

I register the fact I'm holding a pair of scissors. I can't work out why.

Everything hurts.

_Did I cut?_

It hurts.

_Naruto._

And the world fades to black.

...

"Sasuke! Did you hear, Mum said that Tsunade rang to say that Naruto can...?" Itachi took one look at the tiny, bloodstained form of his brother, limp on his best friend's bed, and his knees gave out. "Sasuke!" He could hear his heart pounding in his ears. "Sasuke!" he rolled the boy over.

Blood.

_Shit._

"Mum! Dad! Call an ambulance!" he screamed out the door. Bundled the orange fabric around his brother's wrists. He was bleeding. He had to stop the bleeding. "Mum! Dad!" His parents appeared in the door way, white faced, wide eyed.

"Sasuke!" Mum slumped against the doorframe, and Dad whipped out his mobile.

"Ambulance please."

...

"Ow."

The first thing I weakly registered was the pain. Apparently I was still alive_. Just my luck._ I thought bitterly. I became dimly aware of other figures in the room. Fuzzy blurs.

"Sasuke." That was mum's voice "Why Sasuke, why?"

"Na...ru...to..." I bite out, the name burning my tongue. I want to be sick. I hear a sharp intake of breath somewhere to my right, and a small sob.

"Silly boy." She kisses the top of my head. She'd been crying too. Her face streaked with tears. "Naruto's much better. He was going to come home, Itachi was about to tell you."

What...?

What?

WHAT?

"Stupid little brother."

"Naruto...?"

"Was coming home. And thanks to your stupid little stunt, now has to wait a week." Itachi king of bluntness. "He's disappointed in you."

And those words were the ones that hurt the most. A tight, cruel sensation in my chest.

_Disappointed._

"I'm not... disappointed... just... sorry. God. I'm so, so sorry. Sasuke. This is all my fault. Isn't it? Sasuke, Sasuke... I..."

And I realise Naruto's there. Sitting by my bedside. Sitting there for me. Facing his fears for me. Being strong, brave reliable Naruto.

And I realise exactly how much of an idiot I am.

"S'not your fault." And I reach a wavering arm up towards his face. Watery blue eyes are my whole world in that moment. Those eyes should be joy filled. I was distantly aware I had put the sadness there. "I'm sorry." Pain lances through my arm, and it shakes uncontrollably. He clasps my hand and holds it loosely to his face as I gently brush away his tears.

**...**

**...**

**A/N:**

**S...S...SO SHORRRT! Ah well... nearly at the end! :O**

**Thanks for reading! If you liked it, drop me a review!**

**Only one more chappie to go!**

**Sequel – any thoughts?**

**:D**


	54. Chapter 53

Chapter Fifty Three

"Naruto?" He flinches as he hands me a box. I notice he's staring at my arms. My eyebrow twitches in annoyance. "Stop counting them!" His eyes flick up from the livid white scars and onto my face.

"Sorry!" he laughs, and passes me another box. "Habit!"

Itachi pokes his head around the door, and Naruto jumps and drops the box. He laughs and shoves the contents back in to pass it to me.

"Ohayō 'Tachi-nii!" He grins, whisker marks curving up, and his eyes shining. So blue. So Naruto. I find myself smiling too.

"Here." Itachi says, and I put the box I was holding with the others, as he cautiously hands me two mugs. "Careful their rather full." I nod and hand Naruto the orange one.

Milk. Sugar. Squirty cream. Marshmallows.

And I sip at my own.

Dark. Bitter. Plain.

Hot Chocolate... it was just... our thing. You know? Me and Naruto.

We sit on the bed and laugh over some awful joke about me burning the salad I'm going to make for tea tonight, which Itachi just shouted back at us as he left the room. I fix Naruto with a stare as he wipes his eyes and finishes laughing. The boxes piled around us are proof he's here to stay. All his belongings, and new ones we'd gone and bought, being unpacked for good. He was staying with us.

He was finally safe.

Home.

And I'd never let anyone hurt him again.

He's facing the world with such a brave face that it makes me hurt inside. Ache. The proof of my own cowardice all over my arms. I wouldn't have died, apparently. Only if I'd been left a lot longer. I just lost a lot of blood and passed out. The hospital had stitched me up nicely. Tsunade had been furious. I was seeing Jiraiya now too.

Apparently, Naruto had heard what I'd done, and leapt up from his bed in an instant; running all the way around the hospital in a panic – trying to find to my room. He'd burst in hyperventilating and shouting obscenities, looking ridiculous in his little green hospital gown. But so brave. Strong. Naruto. His fear of people, of the crowded corridors he's run through, had been overridden by another fear.

For his best friend.

Night-time is the only major problem now. Fleeting hugs and shoulder pats he can cope with. Strong and sure. But in the dark, alone, in the room he was taken from all that time ago, he curls into a tight orange ball of covers and limbs, and cries. So afraid.

So alone.

It's a soft padding on my carpet that wakes me that night. In my own room, blue duvet so warm and comforting that I can't be bothered to get up growl obscenities at whoever it is for waking me as they deserved. But then I hear a snuffling noise. A sort of whimper. A concealed sob. Then;

"Sasuke? You awake Sasuke? I... I had a nightmare and I wondered if..."

I sit up at the sound, and my eyes lock of startling blue.

"Come here, silly." And I fold the small blond boy into my arms. He wraps his arms around me and sobs into my shoulder blade. His frame shakes with every gasp of air. The cold air bites at the both of us, chilling our skin, and I pull the duvet tightly around our bodies. "It's all ok Naruto. They can't hurt you anymore. I won't let them." I keep talking. About how we're all here for him. How the bastards are behind bars. How he's safe.

After a while, he quietens to a soft snuffling in my arms and his breathing evens out in sleep as I stroke his hair. It's soft and downy, carding between my fingers. Light and fluffy as feathers, and the rich golden colour of the sun. I smile.

I cling closer to him, reassuring myself that through all the suffering and pain of his life, he's still there.

Still alive.

Still Naruto.

And, I realise in that moment; _he means the world to me._

Owari.

**...**

**...**

**A/N:**

**Awwwwwh! Nice fluffy little ending right? :)**

**Naru-chan's happy, Sasu-chan's happy, the bastards have been beaten up with large sticks... all in all... a good ending! :D**

**So, I'd like to thank you. Yes you. Reading this. Because if you are reading this it means you've read all 42,333, all 53 chapters, all 104 pages (wow... that beats my usual average 20 pages)... So thankyouuuuu! :D :D :D**

**You make little Lenle over here feel very happies! Especially you reviewers! **

**On that note - if you liked this story, drop me a review! It would be greatly appreciated!**

**There is a sequel to be written! Will post a message as a new chapter on here when I upload it! :D**

**Thanks again for reading, beating the bad guys with big sticks, and correcting my terrible spellings,**

**It's been fun!**

**From your writer,**

**Lenle G xxx**


	55. SEQUEL NEWS! :D

**Lenle here!**

**Guess what!**

**...**

**No... No... I haven't been abducted by aliens... No... I was just a bit slow in getting on with a sequel... that's all... really! :3**

**But...****the sequel is up!**

**Yes! Really! :D**

**It's called ****'The Joy of Life' ****and the links on my page and all that Jazz.**

**Summary: Sasuke wakes up with a Naruto pillow, and as the blond runs out red-faced he realizes... he was only moments away from kissing him... but then Naruto gets sick and Sasuke's left to look after him... how can he come to terms with these new... feelings... when Naruto is sneezing all over him?**

**I'm probably going to be a bit slow with the updating of it, as (no, not because I'm being abducted by aliens) I've got a lot of CW for college to get done, and I'm currently working on my other Naruto story **_**Bitter Sweet**_** (hey, if you fancy reading it, go do so and drop me a review!) which starts a bit slow, but it's getting good (well... Lenle thinks so anyways, lols XD...) plus I'm really loving writing it! :D**

**Thanks again for reading, check out the sequel if you enjoyed it! :D**

_**Lenle Ginifin**_

**xxx**


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